


The Book of Eve

by eri_quin



Series: The Regions' Legends [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Amnesia, Assassins & Hitmen, F/M, Female Anti-Hero, Heroes to Villains, Mercenaries, Pro-Team Rocket, Villains to Heroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2018-05-27 09:38:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6279307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eri_quin/pseuds/eri_quin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leaf died and Eve was born. She became an assassin for Team Rocket, but hated doing what she did and being so feared. But she owed Giovanni, who she'd loved as Leaf and still loved now. When Team Rocket comes under fire, she moves to support Giovanni, put order to the Team, and become a hero again -and yet still help Team Rocket rule the world. ThwartShipping, pro-Team Rocket.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

** **

**PART I: Vita**

There was fire everywhere. The smell of smoke and burning tires was prominent in the air, and he couldn't stand the stench. But he didn't leave that place.

No, he had to reach that _girl_. For some reason, he couldn't just leave her there and consequently leave her to die.

But why not? Her friend was the one who'd caused this mess. Her friend was the one who madly drove that car into the limousine that he wasn't even in, attempting to end his life.

And yet...He was Giovanni Rocketto and he had always known that there was something special about this girl.

" _I'm here to end your tyranny!" she growled._

_He smirked in amusement. "Then defeat me in battle. Or are you all talk?"_

She had eventually beaten him, even if only once. But he'd always been intrigued by her and impressed by the tenacity in which she made herself go on, even through numerous defeats that shaped her (especially defeats by him).

She couldn't just die now.

' _No,'_ he realized, _'she couldn't.'_

So he pushed himself into the fiery blazes, ignoring his own vehicle and looking for the one she had been in. It wasn't hard to find her, but he had to yank the heated metal of the car door open. Ignoring his burnt hand, he practically tore the seatbelt off of her and pulled her out of the car. Her companion was still in there, but Giovanni left him behind. He'd caused this whole accident after all.

He carried her further away from the scene of the accident and put her down, checking for a pulse. He scowled as he felt none, not sure if the lack of oxygen made her pass out and further inhale the poisonous air created from the fumes of the smoke and spilling gasoline, or if the crash itself had done something to her.

" _Merda_ ," he cursed and took out his phone, pressing a button that would alert one of his Executives to where his location was.

Then he was quick to start CPR on the girl in front of him, repeating each push of his hands and exhale of breath into her, until he wasn't sure if he had been too late already.

Finally, she gasped out a breath and then started coughing. He held her up and she looked up at him blearily.

"What…"

Giovanni didn't answer, hearing the sound of a helicopter. He looked up and saw one with a bright red R on its side, and he moved to pick her up. He began the short trek to where the helicopter had landed.

"What is it you always say? 'I am a leaf in the wind.' Today, I was your wind," he murmured.

She blinked up at him in exhaustion before she slowly passed out in his arms.

**PART II: Nome**

He watched the girl sleeping fitfully.

"What's wrong with her?" he growled at Dr. Zager, his head scientist who doubled as the head medic.

"She may have gotten amnesia either from the crash, or it may be a result of the trauma of the accident and not wanting to remember," Dr. Zager cleared his throat. "I'm not sure."

Giovanni frowned. "So she has forgotten everything?"

"I'm not sure," Dr. Zager repeated. "She could have forgotten everything, including speech and how to take care of herself, and her memories. If it's the crash that caused it, her amnesia may include the inability to take care of herself until she relearns everything. But if it's mental and emotional trauma…"

"Then simply her memories," Giovanni continued watching the unconscious girl closely. "Leave," he ordered the scientist.

Then Giovanni was alone, watching his enemy through the one-way glass window.

He finally decided to enter the room and took a chair, settling it by the foot of her bed. He sat down heavily on it, and kept watching her silently. When she finally began to stir and started to sit up, he didn't move from his spot.

He knew from the moment she opened her eyes and looked at him, no look of recognition and no protest and slew of insults towards him, that she didn't remember him.

Didn't remember their history.

"My name is Giovanni," he murmured, making the decision. "Your name is Evangeline. _You_ are Evangeline Rappaccini."

He could see her acceptance through those very same stormy gray eyes, the ones he remembered glaring at him at every meeting.

Inside, he felt something numb at the loss.

**PART III: Ansia**

"Eve," the new man called her. "How far you've fallen."

She looked at him with his prim posture, pressed white clothes, and slightly tousled light blue hair. He called himself 'Archer.'

"He saved you, you know," Archer told her indifferently. "You owe him."

Eve looked up blankly at him. "I know."

"Then serve him loyally, as I have," he looked down on her.

Of course she would. Giovanni saved her. She did owe him. Why wouldn't she agree to that?

"What do you want me to do?"

* * *

The gun felt cold and heavy in her hands. Her slim fingers could barely hold onto it and the weight of the firearm hurt her wrists.

"Get proficient quickly," Archer ordered her. "Don't be useless to Giovanni."

"I won't," Eve promised quietly.

She held the gun firmer and aimed at the target. She took a deep breath and began to shoot at it several times in succession. Most of the time, she missed.

"A failure," Archer noted coolly. "Reclip and start again."

Eve looked down unhappily, but did as she was told.

* * *

"This wasn't what I wanted," Giovanni glared at his subordinate.

Archer bowed. "Forgive me, sir. But she wished to repay you. I thought this would be the best way for her to."

Still stuck in his bowed position, Archer lifted his head up and looked at Giovanni keenly.

"Again, forgive my impudence, Giovanni. But I turned an enemy into an _ally_."

Giovanni clenched his jaw, but had nothing more to say to his subordinate. He dismissed Archer, and trekked to his wall window. He rubbed his hand against his face.

"This _wasn't_ what I wanted," he muttered again.

* * *

Archer had handed her the folder with the information. She was supposed to go after a man named Caius Darkin, but she didn't know why or what he'd done to deserve this. When she'd asked, Archer had berated her.

" _It's not your business to know. Do your job and fulfill your duties to Giovanni."_

So she kept quiet and said nothing. Instead, she'd gotten herself outfitted and ready to go. Now she was in the building Darkin was said to be in, except she hadn't run into him yet.

"Hello? Excuse me, Miss, but you're not supposed to be here."

She whirled around and saw him, with his long platinum hair and violet eyes. He looked older than his picture, but still young and handsome.

"Caius Darkin?" she asked quietly.

He looked taken aback that she knew him, but he hesitantly nodded in answer.

"Yes, that's me -"

She cut him off when she raised her gun and shot him twice. He went down and she stared in shock, with the whole thing having gone too fast for her to think clearly.

"I...I'm sorry," she choked out, and rushed to his side.

He gave a small smile. "You're...so young. Why have you gone down this road?"

Eve sniffed. "Because...he saved me. And I owe him everything."

His hand reached out and patted her hand, the one clutching at her skirt.

"Please...protect my daughter…"

She tried to cover his wounds with her hands, but felt her mouth dry up at the futileness.

"Please...protect Sonia."

"It was you!" she cried out. "It was only you. They don't want your family."

He gave her another smile, one that said that he knew something she didn't. Then he gave her a funny look, eyes squinting at her.

"You...Thrones…" he muttered, though most of it was lost to her.

A bang rang out from behind her and she was frozen in shock as blood splattered across her face and body, the man in front of her dead in an instant.

"I was wondering what was taking you so long," Archer sighed from behind her. "Giovanni is here."

But she stayed there, unmoving and silent. He took one last look at her before leaving. A moment later, Giovanni walked onto the scene and watched her with dark eyes. Running a hand through his hair, he approached her slowly, but stopped beside her.

There was a lot of blood pooling on the floor, and she was sitting uncaringly in it. Her legs were covered in blood, but she continued to stare at the dead man.

Morbidly, Giovanni watched as the blood began to spread, eventually to his feet and covering the soles of his shoes with the dark liquid.

He reached out and caressed her hair, continuing to soothingly thread his hand through the brown locks.

" _Mi dispiace_ ," he apologized.

This wasn't what he wanted at all.

Chapter Started 11/11/14 – Completed 11/12/14


	2. Arc. 0-1 Introduction

**EPISODE I: The Assignment**

Eve sighed, running a hand through her brown, shaggy-cropped hair. She narrowed her eyes at her computer screen, just as her Absol walked into the room. Without a word, he traveled to her side and tilted his head up. She affectionately rubbed his head, ignoring the PokéVision video she was supposed to edit.

"Damn brats.'I want it to be like Aria's videos!' Che. Aria isn't so great. Why idiots these days are fans of hers, I wouldn't understand. Diantha, at least, is a real star."

The 17 year old stood up and walked to her kitchen, grabbing a handful of red licorice as she rummaged around for a glass. She almost filled it with cranberry juice, but her Absol barked at her and she sighed and filled it with water instead.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I need to drink more water. I'm just running out of water, boy. I haven't had time to go refill the water supply."

Her computer dinged and her head snapped towards it, her stormy gray eyes narrowing at it.

"Well, well. Looks like I've got a job," she murmured, leaving behind everything and crossing quickly to her computer.

She clicked on the popup, and watched as a picture and the information appeared on her screen.

"La Famiglia Razzo calls. Absol! Time to head out."

**EPISODE II: The Dream**

She had a dream the night before. It was a reoccurring one, but she hadn't had it in a long while.

She can always recall the scent of burning rubber and the heated air surrounding her, before dream-her opens her eyes and she sees she's in a room.

He's there and watching her with onyx eyes.

"My name is Giovanni," he murmurs. "Your name is Evangeline. You are Evangeline Rappaccini."

She blinks at him blankly and then she suddenly wakes up.

Eve has that dream often. Has had so since she was 15, two years ago, and when the occurrences in her dream had happened in reality.

She has never questioned her boss about anything he's told her, from her name to her dead parents to how she used to live in and had grown up in Pallet Town.

It's because she always remembers how, with burning rubber and hot air and before the room, she sees a blurry figure above her, strong arms holding onto her tightly and carrying her close. Her vision clears and she sees a strong jaw line on a tanned face, onyx eyes narrowed in concentration.

And so she has never since questioned the man who saved her and given her new life.

**EPISODE III: On the Outs**

Absol waited by her side loyally as she got ready. Her backless undershirt went on first and then her scarlet overshirt went over that, before she slipped on the harness that housed her throwing knives, with the shoulder straps digging into the skin of her shoulders. Her black undershirt was sleeveless and the cloth of the overshirt wasn't thick enough to stop the straps from settling heavily on her, so it couldn't be helped.

After making sure the harness was strapped securely on her torso, she threw on a simple leather jacket that easily hid the harness and her throwing knives from view. She checked the bottom of her dark red sneakers to make sure the secret compartments weren't compromised, and made sure that her right shoe had all the picks collected and hidden in that compartment, before she shoved her feet into them.

She slipped on her belt and placed three pokéballs onto it.

"Do you want to go in the pokéball or walk out?" she asked her Absol, who answered her by walking ahead of her to the door.

She grinned slightly and grabbed her 9mm and checked it first, before lifting the back of her jacket and slipping the handgun into the hidden holster. She grabbed her prepared bag and then reached her waiting Absol, locking up her apartment and then heading out.

It wouldn't be the first time she would be leaving that apartment behind.

* * *

She and Absol strolled quietly along the street, heading to one last place before she would leave the Pokémon League Village.

This place was very different when the Indigo Conference wasn't taking place there. It was quiet and much like any other simple town in Kanto, despite being built more like an average-sized city. It helped her live a simple life there, unobstructed and peaceful.

She could only be grateful that her boss had been kind enough, kind for him that is, to have bought her an apartment there, and helped her settle in. It was a nice area and apartment complex as well, and she was lucky enough to have it.

Her mind snapped back to focus when she spotted her final destination, and she quickened her steps, with Absol copying her. The Breeding Center's sliding doors opened for her and she entered noiselessly, her gray eyes looking for the owner. The owner spotted her immediately and waved her over.

"Eve, nice to see you," he smiled widely, and she nodded neutrally at the man. "Your Trapinch is doing much better and should be alright for you to take home."

Her lips twitched up. "Excellent timing. I was going to head out of town for a while."

He glanced at her. "Oh? …Business then?" he asked nonchalantly.

"You could say that," she answered back blasé.

"I hope you succeed," he muttered to her, reaching behind him and grabbing onto her sleeping Trapinch. "For the glory of the Rockets."

"Glory and Immortality," she replied back quietly.

She wouldn't fail Giovanni. If he wanted her to kill this person, then she would.

It was the least she could do for him after everything he'd done for her.

Started 11/10/14 – Completed 11/16/14


	3. Arc. 0-2 The Hunt

**EPISODE IV: Lunar Lunacy**

The fire crackling was the only noise in Eve's camp. Her Absol was deceivingly relaxed, his eyes closed as he rested beside her feet. The protein bar in her hand tasted bland and its texture felt like bark, but she wasn't a cook and she didn't have any prepared meals that she could heat up on the road.

Suddenly, there was rustling coming from the bushes near them and Absol's head immediately shot up, pinpointing the exact location of their "intruder." Eve didn't bother to look, lazily taking another bite. It didn't take long until the intruder revealed themselves, with a hungry and tired-looking Houndour trekking into her campsite.

Eve eyed it quietly, observing every detail. It had a lean build, if slightly skinny, and there seemed to be a slight limp to its right leg. Its eyes drooped and it didn't seem to care that it was encroaching on someone else's territory, or that it was walking right up to Eve, a virtual stranger.

She whistled lightly and held up her protein bar, which the Houndour seemed to have been previously eying as it had initially approached. It glanced between her and the protein bar, but Eve waved it slightly.

"It's not much," she told it honestly. "I don't even think it tastes good. But if you want it, you can have it."

She could see the hesitancy coming from it, but Eve took the rest of the wrapper off and threw the protein bar closer to it. The Houndour was quick to pounce on it and start to eat.

"There you go," Eve murmured, watching it.

"Houndour! Houndour? Where the hell are you?" she heard someone yelling nearby just then, and she turned towards the direction from where the Houndour had come from. A young man came stumbling through the tree line and then over the bushes, before coming face to face with her.

"Oh…Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you," he said apologetically, though he didn't sound too sorry about it. He grinned at her and eyed her from top to bottom. "My name's Michael."

Before Eve could answer, the Houndour whimpered and started to back away. 'Michael' turned his attention to it, and a sneer formed on his face.

"There you are! Damn it, you're such a useless thing."

Eve frowned, tilting her head to watch him. Michael had started to stalk towards the Houndour, instead of reaching for a pokéball to recall it already, and Eve turned her eyes on the Houndour who had started whimpering loudly.

"Ugh! What a stupid bitch of a pokémon!" Michael threw up a hand to hit the female Houndour, only for his wrist to be caught. "Huh?"

Before he could turn around, Eve snapped his wrist and then the last thing he registered was a cold and thin piece of metal sliding into his neck and then quickly sliding out, blood rushing into his mouth and him gurgling it, and then falling forward and landing on his face. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Looking indifferently at the body, Eve decided it was fine to leave him there for now and headed back to her spot. She grabbed another protein bar and held it up for the Houndour to see.

"You want another?"

The Houndour looked down at the body of her former owner and then back at the female human looking at her, and started to move towards this new person who had been much kinder than her owner. The Absol by the female's feet moved over and Houndour tentatively lay down. A soft hand rubbed her head gently and she closed her eyes in contentment.

The three of them ignored the rapidly cooling body to the side for the rest of the night.

**EPISODE V: Locked Up Beasts**

"Isn't that the Widow?"

"Arceus, damn it! It's really _her_."

They were just low-level grunts. They didn't have much in the way of power and they were usually tasked with menial jobs, or easy tasks that didn't require them to do or think much.

But even they knew who the Widow was.

Evangeline Rappaccini was well known through the ranks, and everyone knew she was Giovanni's favorite. The boss had a soft spot for her and allowed her to do as she wished. Very rarely has she ever been in the wrong in his eyes, and he let many things slide when it came to her.

Only that wasn't what everyone knew her for. No, they knew she was the Widow for the Widowmaker she used to use, back in the days when she was in the operational field with the rest of the more paramilitaristic part of Team Rocket. She made good use of the assault rifle, and made many of those opposers "widows and widowers."

The easy way she took out her enemies, and killed them without so much as a flinch. The almost art like way she devised plans to assassinate her targets. The look in her eyes as she finished up the job…

She was almost like a black widow...

It was safe to say that she was a scary and intimidating person, and no one in any of the ranks (probably not even higher ups) wanted to deal with her.

Which was to say, seeing her there, made the two grunts wonder why and alternately wish she would just hurry and leave already.

Just then, one of the Three Beasts of Team Rocket came into the same room, and they held their breaths. That was Orm –a large and terrifying man, who was ranked lieutenant along with the other Three Beasts. All of them were known to be powerful and ruthless.

But Orm stopped short and looked wary at seeing the Widow there, and that spoke volumes about the female rumored to be Giovanni's real right hand.

"Eve," Orm greeted deferentially.

Cold, stormy gray eyes looked over at him, and the Widow tilted her head to the side.

"Orm. One of the Three Beasts. Is there something you need?" she asked coldly.

Orm held up his hands. "No, nothing at all. I'm just surprised to see you here. Was there something any of us could help you with?"

The well-known assassin pursed her lips. "I'm on a mission, classified. I was just making a stop at this base for a Rocket Shake, since it was along the way. The grunt I ordered to get me one is taking a long time."

"W-why don't I go and get that shake for you?" Orm offered nervously, giving a strained smile. "I'll be back much quicker than some idiot grunt."

She nodded tersely and Orm was gone without another word.

That one of the _Three Beasts_ was sent out to go get a Rocket Shake, on a menial task reserved for lowly grunts, was just amazing.

The two grunts didn't know whether to be in awe or be terrified.

**EPISODE VI: Memories of No One**

_I'm a leaf in the wind; watch me soar._

_I'm a leaf…_

" _I'm a leaf in the wind!" a girl with long brown screamed, jumping into the air and waving around a gym badge. "Watch me soar!"_

" _Geez, Leaf. You've really watched that movie one too many times!"_

" _But it fits me, Blue!"_

_Who...who are all of you?_

_Who are you?_

_Who am I?_

Eve gasped, shooting up from her bed with wide eyes. She could feel sweat sliding down her face, panting from the nightmare.

Was it a nightmare though? She couldn't recall who they were at all, and yet for some reason 'Leaf' and 'Blue' seemed so familiar to her.

The dream she had...it was like she was really there. She could feel the wind blowing against her, the ruffling of the skirt she wore, and the smile that stretched so wide across her face that it felt painful.

She was seeing it all through the eyes of this person named Leaf.

But who was Leaf?

**EPISODE VII: Death Tolls**

Eve didn't think of the dream from the night before. She staunchly put it out of her head, and instead focused on setting up in that apartment she was renting. Her Absol and Houndour were prowling around the room, listening and paying attention to see if there were any intruders or if someone was coming.

In the meantime, she set up a board against the wall and began pinning up the current information she had on her target. Using pieces of red string, she connected what she could, and used post-its for little comments or notations she had.

Her target was unmarried. He had a brother that also worked in Silph, but was otherwise connected to no one else.

He had a penchant for gambling and was in debt. Years ago, he'd been in debt as well and had hired Team Rocket to raid and take over the Silph Co. building, so that employees being held hostage would be able to collect on insurance claims from the company.

Emeric Hollands, her target, had been one of those employees, and had been able to clear that debt back then.

In exchange for the job, their name grew even higher and they'd been allowed to collect whatever data or prototypes they'd come across. It wasn't too long after, though, that Hollands and his partner hired Team Rocket again –this time to assassinate a business competitor by the name of Caius Darkin.

It was irony that now someone else had hired Team Rocket to assassinate him.

Eve had a feeling, though she had no concrete evidence at the moment, that the person who'd hired them was someone related to Darkin.

" _Please...protect my daughter…"_

She clenched her jaw and shook the image of the dying man from her thoughts. She shouldn't dwell on the past. The past was the past after all, and he was just some person she'd failed to assassinate.

And it had been business. It was nothing personal.

She didn't owe that man anything.

" _Please...protect Sonia."_

Started 11/10/14 – Completed 11/12/14


	4. Arc. 0-3 The Assassination

**EPISODE VIII: On the Clock**

Eve scribbled onto the notepad, going back and scratching things out or erasing and rewriting what she needed to.

_Tik._

She finished with that and went back to her board, rearranging when necessary. She only added a few more things, having already set up what was needed to be up there. At the forefront, clearly seen, was Hollands' schedule.

_Tok._

He had breakfast in the morning by himself in his house. One unbuttered, "unjammed" toast. A glass of orange juice. A bowl of grained cereal, plain and generic.

 _Tik_.

He headed to work in a simple, black sedan. He took no shortcuts, didn't yell in road rage at cutters or at being stuck in traffic, or made any stops on the way.

 _Tok_.

Hollands worked from 8 to 11, working diligently and proficiently. If it wasn't for the fact of his past misdeeds, he would have appeared as an ordinary good worker. He worked hard, finished his work on time, got along with his coworkers, and didn't seem to be a horrible overseer over his current project or the people working under him.

_Tik._

Emeric Hollands was, in hindsight, not someone to be missed. His younger brother who worked there, constantly berated and bullied him. Hollands always kept quiet.

His coworkers made fun of him, calling him boring and uptight. The people working under him whispered behind his back, calling him unambitious, plain, and plotting to take his place. He always looked the other way and played deaf.

He had no friends, no allies, no real family.

Eve almost felt sorry for him.

It did make her wonder how and why he'd targeted Caius Darkin, and how he got into so much trouble that he kept going into debt.

_Tok._

It didn't matter anymore anyway. It was almost time.

She'd put him out of his misery.

**EPISODE IX: Hollow Note**

She ran her hand through her now red hair, and adjusted the professional suit on her body to be as straight and unwrinkled as possible, though she doubted it would ever be up to Archer's standards. Her stormy gray eyes were now covered by hazel contacts and were practically unrecognizable.

She stared hard at herself in the mirror, frowning as she scrutinized her look. Houndour whimpered and bumped her nose against her hand, while Absol stayed back and watched carefully, already used to his owner's occasional change of looks.

"Hush now, love," her demeanor changed and she smiled down softly at her Houndour. She scratched behind an ear and Houndour purred. "I'm just getting ready."

There was a void inside of her. There was always this empty space in her all the time, but it was more prominent the closer she was to doing a job. It was something that had been with her since she'd woken up in that room so long ago.

They say that the eyes are the window to the soul, but if that was so, did that mean she had none?

If one looked closely into her eyes, beyond the surface of what she put up, she knew her eyes were dead and seemed too lifeless for a person. That she didn't seem...quite human.

Her phone rang and she made quick strides to it, snatching it up when she recognized the number.

"Hello?" she answered breathily.

" _Buongiorno_ ," her boss' voice greeted her quietly on the other end. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she replied, hand clutching onto her phone tightly.

"...Good. I was just...calling. I will see you later for a report."

"Yes, of course, Giovanni," she closed her eyes, and breathed in deeply.

"...Take care, _cara mia_."

The phone call ended, but she felt a little of the emptiness go away.

**EPISODE X: Resignation**

The click of her heels echoed in the building. There were very few people still working that late, and she was counting on them not really paying her target any attention, like they usually did.

In any case, she'd already hacked into the appropriate security cameras and looped them so they'd show the same thing. Her photo id was faked, but would definitely pass inspection. She looked the part and had studied the mannerisms of workers there, and she was set with a background story if she needed to.

But all that was more appropriate if she'd gone during the day, and she had found the most opportune moment to strike that night.

The lobby was empty, so she headed straight to the elevator without any problems. Eve intended to do this quick, and she would be avoiding any witnesses or any unnecessary confrontation using the elevator to get to Hollands. It wasn't completely failsafe, but it was her best chance.

In the cramped room of the elevator, she began to feel claustrophobic. Something about this job nagged at her. She felt uneasy and bothered about it since the beginning, and it was making her anxious.

The doors opened at that moment and she made herself focus, eyes narrowing in concentration and steeling her nerves. She silently slipped into the hallway, and made her trek towards where she had found out was where Hollands' office was located.

She kept a close lookout, and listened closely to every sound being made. She grabbed her gun and got it ready, and opened the door noiselessly. There was Emeric Hollands, strangely looking solemn out of his window.

Eve crept up behind him, but she hesitated. Instead of just pulling the trigger, she put it right up against his head and startled him out of his reverie.

He blinked rapidly and when he finally registered the situation, he flinched and stared at her in fear. On the other hand, recognition also highlighted his face.

"You…" he murmured. "I remember you."

"It's been some time," she acknowledged him. "Are you ready for me to take you to your fate?"

"I think I've known this was coming since the beginning," he said thoughtfully to himself.

Eve stared indifferently at him. "Then why did you do it? Any of it?"

He smiled grimly at her. "Why does anyone do anything? Why at all?"

Hollands stood up and she backed up, keeping the gun directed towards his way. Her hands were steady and she watched as he walked to his window, flipping the latch and climbing onto the ledge.

"It's nice that this particular company building isn't made with windows walls," he said idly.

And then he leaped.

"What horrible last words," Eve muttered.

**EPISODE XI: Red**

She turned the shower on, and ignored the chatter of the TV.

" _Chief Technology Officer of Silph Co., Emeric Hollands, was found dead half an hour ago. This breaking news comes after many scarce witnesses still out at night, saw Hollands leap from his office window. This speculated suicide has come to -"_

Eve tiredly rubbed her face, slipping out of her clothes quickly and then getting into the shower. She turned the hot water on further, practically burning her skin, but the pain made her nerves come alive and forcefully made her feel.

The pounding of the water blocked out the noise of the TV and everything else, and she leaned her head directly into the shower spray. She glanced down and saw that the temporary red dye from her hair was mixing with the water and spilling down the shower drain.

In a way, it looked a little like blood.

She chuckled mirthlessly. "You can't get rid of taint that easily."

As Eve practically drowned herself in burning hot water, her phone rang multiple times, a certain boss checking on his employee in a way he wouldn't for anyone else.

But she kept taking breaths, inhaling and exhaling, and did what she always did.

Block out the world and made herself not feel.

Started 11/16/14 – Completed 11/16/14


	5. Interlude: Picture of Insanity

Giovanni had sent over the girl to her, but she wasn't quite sure what to do with her. Odette Fairchild was good at figuring out the mind, as one of the foremost psychics of Team Rocket, but when it came to this girl…

It was chaotic. Just a glimpse into this girl's mind and Odette had retreated. Despite the girl's blank face, her mind was alive and in turmoil. It actually _hurt_ Odette to try reading it.

Lifting up the folder of her new client, Odette twitched at the name. The irony was just astounding, and she had the hugest urge to laugh at Giovanni.

 _Evangeline Rappaccini_.

Eve of the Eden. Fall from grace.

Perhaps the next time she saw Giovanni, she should ask where the apple was and whether or not he considered himself the snake or Adam.

The snake with the silver tongue and the treacherous promises.

Adam of Earth.

A wide, red grin spread across her lips and she tossed the folder back into a drawer. She would enjoy cracking into this one's head, with or without any prior information or diving into her head.

While she knew this was Leaf, the Hero of Kanto and "defeater" of Team Rocket, she had nothing else about this girl. No one had ever expounded on her background, of her family, or anything personal…

Who knew even about Giovanni in regards to Leaf either?

Or Eve, as it now was. She supposed that meant she'd have to do some old-fashioned digging, maybe even recruit her old partner Xavier.

She could always forcibly go into this currently shattered mind, but she didn't fancy the pain or further breaking the girl, which would possibly beyond anger Giovanni and incur his wrath.

A wrathful Giovanni was terrifying indeed.

"So...Eve," Odette started softly. She smiled slowly, regaining her cheer. "We are _so_ going to be best buddies!"

Eve turned from her seat, glancing at her with glassy eyes.

* * *

She hadn't gotten the reference at first, but apparently Eve's last name was symbolic as well. Italian at that!

Giovanni, being half Italian, had reached into his roots and produced a very interesting Italian name. Rappaccini, more than likely, came from a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

A medical researcher's daughter was raised around the poisonous plants that he had been researching, and in turn became poisonous to others herself.

A young student named Giovanni falls in love with her, and they try to be together –only for him to become poisonous and suffer the effects of being around her. He comes up with an antidote, but it kills her instead of saving her.

The parallels were sadly easy to see, and Odette wondered if perhaps she should relook into Giovanni's psyche and maybe see if he might've developed Lima Syndrome…

"My dear, I think I know just how important you really are," Odette mused. "I had a feeling you really were, but if my theories are correct, the world would burn before any harm will come to you."

Eve didn't answer her, indifferently watching Odette's image in the mirror. Odette pouted, but continued her work, cutting Leaf's fabulous but too identifiable brunette hair.

She hesitated and then tried to gently touch Eve's mind with her own, and then retreated back quickly at the screaming pain.

Eve was currently chaos incarnate and she would risk her own sanity (what was left of it), if she delved into this girl's head.

* * *

Current progress with Eve: currently nothing. Odette had spent a total of 13 hours that week with the girl, and nothing had gotten passed Eve's impenetrable fortress. Frustrating, yes. But according to the reports she finally decided to read, Eve had also just semi-completed her first assassination.

And according to the report, it hadn't gone too well.

Odette disliked assassinations. It got one's hands _and_ mind dirty, and this one was young and she could guess hadn't been prepared for the actual thing.

If she could wring Archer's neck…

She was pretty sure the prim Executive had a hand in this. She'd heard of his new apprentice, and could guess this girl had been it. He wouldn't be the type to focus and care about feelings, and would probably demand Eve lock them away.

If only Archer was right in front of her –

"How is she?" Giovanni asked her harshly, and she almost jumped up in surprise.

Damn it all, Giovanni was just one of those people who tend to do impossible things, including being able to sneak up on a psychic.

Odette swallowed nervously under his dark gaze.

"She's...not progressing," she reluctantly admitted. At Giovanni's scowl, she hurried to elaborate. "She's built this wall around herself and refuses to let anyone in, or really talk or acknowledge anyone. She's not really living per se. Just –"

Giovanni sharply raised a hand and gestured her to stop. He strode passed her and stopped in front of Eve, grabbing the girl's face in between his hands and forcing her to look him in the eyes.

" _Cara_ , you cannot do this. I need you to wake up and see me right now," he said forcefully.

To Odette's amazement, Eve blinked and her stormy gray eyes began to focus in on Giovanni.

"Good," Giovanni murmured. "Good."

And then he tilted her head downwards and kissed the top of her head.

Odette felt strangely like an intruder and wanted to make herself scarce. At the same time, as was her usual _modus operandi_ , she wanted to continue to watch and observe, even if it meant being a voyeur.

There had always been a strange dynamic between the two, and there had always been questions and curious observations about the relationship that developed over the years and now.

Truthfully, she wanted to dive head first into their intricacy, and unweave every single web they'd woven around themselves.

* * *

"Isn't this nice?" Odette asked cheerfully.

Eve looked at her resentfully.

"Oh come now. It isn't so bad. And now we're finally really bonding. We'll be best buddies in no time, just like I predicted when we first met!" Odette finished painting Eve's left toes.

"I hardly recall that meeting," Eve grumbled, carefully not shifting so she wouldn't mess up Odette's work.

"Well, I can recall it for you now~" Odette sing-songed.

Eve twitched. "Please, you don't have to on my account," she deadpanned, almost jerking her right foot away from the psychic.

"I totally don't mind, sweetie! We're best friends after all!"

Oh yes, Odette was going to have to relentlessly hound this girl. _Someone_ was going to have to be her friend.

Giovanni, after all, seemed to want another title. Whether or not he acknowledged that was his own business.

But denial wasn't healthy –it was a river in Egypt!

Started 12/14/14 – Completed 12/14/14


	6. Chapter One: Black Widow

Eve finally got out of the shower. She still felt down, but she was beginning to work herself into an immovable state.

It was a job. It was done. And she hadn't even had to pull the trigger.

There was no need for her to be like this. She had done what was ordered, even if she hadn't actually had to do anything, and now her task was finished and she could return to the Viridian base.

Arceus be damned if she had to be at 100% by the time she got to Headquarters. She just wanted to lie down and close her eyes, hopefully ignore everything around her for a while, maybe get in some sleep. That actually sounded very nice and inviting…

Brushing back her wet but now normal-colored hair, Eve came towards her bed and saw her lit up phone. Grabbing it, she sighed as she saw the many missed calls from Giovanni, and knew she had to let him know she was okay.

He had always been overly concerned with her.

" _You've got some nerve, little girl."_

She winced and her hand flitted up to her head. She hated how random whispers, ghosts of the past really, always haunted her ever since she'd gotten amnesia and was found and given a new life by Giovanni in that hospital.

She knew he had saved her from some kind of car accident. She could still smell rubber, asphalt, and smoke. She even remembered him carrying her in his arms, and him looking down on her as he did so.

But sometimes, she wanted to remember the entire thing, to maybe stop wondering about her past.

"The past is the past," she muttered to herself.

It was something that was best left behind and for her to forget, which was ironic given she couldn't remember in the first place. Still, she needed to forget about the past, or else she wouldn't be able to move on.

If the life she was living could be called moving on.

Deciding to leave Giovanni to later, she chose rest first and collapsed onto the bed on her front. She smothered her face into her pillow, reveling in its soft and comforting feel. Turning her head to the side, her tired eyes zeroed in on the red numbers of the digital clock by her bedside.

She watched it meaninglessly, until her eyes drifted shut and she fell asleep.

* * *

_The room felt stifling and she wanted to get out of there. As far as she could tell, there really was no need for her to be there, other than for her father to parade her around._

_Hero of Kanto…_

_She scoffed. As if she really earned that title. Team Rocket still lurked around, and was nowhere near defeated, like everyone chose to ignorantly believe. Like a young girl like herself could stop a huge criminal organization like Team Rocket in its tracks, simply by battling them and forcing them to concede defeat._

_It was unbelievably stupid and laughably naïve._

_She was done being naïve and young and ignorant and –_

_All the things she had been while she had been traveling on her pokémon journey, and had learned not to be as she experienced the world in all its gray truth._

" _You look morose, standing here all by yourself," a familiar accented voice said smoothly, chuckling darkly as the man slid into position next to her._

_She tensed up, but made no move to bring attention to their corner or show any discomfort on her face that would show weakness to him._

" _What do you want, Giovanni?" she asked harshly, refusing to look at him._

" _What do I want? Nothing at the moment," he said, aggravating her. "Although I do wonder why the 'Hero of Kanto' is all alone in a corner."_

_She whirled on him, looking up at him with furious stormy gray eyes. Her fury died down as she saw that he had actually been looking down gently at her, and she went back to feeling uncomfortable._

_It still brought up too many memories, memories she wanted to forget about her pokémon journey._

" _Why do you care?" she muttered, back to glaring over at the oblivious, superficial crowd._

_He didn't answer her, choosing instead to echo her position and look over them as well._

" _You look lovely in that green dress, Leaf," he suddenly murmured. He turned to her, a brief smirk flitting across his lips. "But I think red's still more your color."_

_He reached out with a single finger, tracing her red-painted lips slowly, before his hand dropped to his side and he turned and left her to her corner._

_She dazedly wondered if her lipstick had stained him._

Eve awoke, the last vestiges of the dream eluding her. She remembered a party, wearing a dress, and a tall, dark man that seemed to disturb her in and out of dreams. But even those small details were becoming foggy.

She always forgot. Always.

So Eve simply let it be and didn't linger on it, like usual.

With that in mind, she began to get ready to set out and leave Celadon City behind. Hopefully, she could escape under the chaos Hollands' suicide had left behind, and anonymously continue on her way back to Rocket Headquarters.

She easily moved through the apartment, making sure she had everything and hadn't left anything behind. She herself was dressed in her usual clothing, and she made the checks she usually did, though as an extra precaution she had made sure to be certain her knives harness was strapped on snugly.

Eve was feeling a bit paranoid and she would rather be safe than sorry.

Before she left the apartment, she sent a quick text to Giovanni to reassure him she was fine and that he had no need to worry. She'd completed the job and he had nothing to be worried about. It had been successful.

She effectively ignored that much of his worry was more over herself than the job itself.

With that, she left the apartment and made a quick exit out of the city. On the road heading out, Eve let out Houndour and Absol, with the latter throwing her a disgruntled look for keeping him in the pokéball too long after a job.

He'd been with his mistress a long time, and knew how she got after a job.

"Houndour?" the darker canine-like pokémon questioned him.

"Ab-Absol," he answered gruffly, still watching his mistress.

Her quick, jerky steps said much about her state.

* * *

Eve sat on the ground by the base of the tree, leaning against it. Her two pokémon were quietly facing off, and she watched them closely. They waited patiently, tense and eying each other.

She made a sharp slashing gesture, and then the two pokémon lunged at each other, snarling aggressively. She did not want them to fight like pokémon, she wanted them to fight and attack like animals in a battle where losing meant death. She wanted them to fight dirty and be ready to strike viciously and without qualms.

This would be the time for her to evaluate Houndour's performance, see if the female canine pokémon was fit to be on a team like Eve's. Pokémon battles were a necessity and happened often, but with Eve, it was rarer than the usual because she didn't seek out or focus on pokémon battling. If Houndour wanted to stay with her and on her team, she had to be ready to and get used to the killing aspect that formed Eve's team.

And well, she was evaluating Houndour overall. Eve had to know how well her previous trainer had trained her, what she was capable of, and what she was currently able to do. Right now, Eve was carefully noting the speed, evasion skill, and attack level Houndour was displaying, alongside calculating if Houndour would be alright on a team like Eve's and with a trainer like her. Could Houndour handle going along with the things she did and what Eve would require her to learn and do in the long run?

Absol, after all, had torn plenty of throats out for her.

Eve whistled, stopping the two pokémon. She had seen enough, though she would still have to see how Houndour performed in a regular pokémon battle and what her skill set was.

"You passed," she gave an acknowledging nod to Houndour, who happily barked at her.

She took out her bag and set out their food, releasing the rest of her pokémon. Her Gyarados was uncomfortable not having water around, but dealt with it as coolly as he usually did. Her Rhyhorn, oppositely, made herself at home and aimed for the food quickly. On the other hand, her Trapinch was lazily lying by his bowl, only taking a few bites every once and awhile.

She took out her own food, glad to have stocked up from Celadon City. She didn't want to have to feed on ration bars, considering their bland or even disgusting tastes.

Suddenly, Eve's phone rang and she frowned. Taking it out, she saw the number and frowned even more, reluctantly answering it.

"Eve," Archer's familiar cool voice answered her.

"Archer," she greeted back, her voice becoming neutral and unrevealing.

"As I understand, you should be heading back to Headquarters, yes?"

"I'm on my way," she affirmed, though she knew she wasn't going to like his response. She was right.

"Good. That means you'll probably go through Saffron. I need you to do a job. We have a window of opportunity to take out a rival. Blake Hall is in Saffron City. You should know him as the President of Altru Inc. and also as the leader of Team Dim Sun."

Eve shifted through her memory and recalled the man. She tapped a finger against her thigh.

"How long do I have?"

"It's probably best if you head there as fast as you can. The faster you get there, the more time you have to watch the target and plan things out."

Eve gave her confirmation, before hanging up and then putting away her phone.

"Finish up, guys! We'll be heading out soon."

* * *

She got there with time to spare, finding a hotel room to stay in. From there, she got settled in. After a last minute decision, she'd gotten a bit dressed up before wandering outside. Keeping a low profile, she went around the city to look out for Blake Hall. She knew, after getting some more information, that he would be around the gambling district. Which is why she'd gone straight there and began to inconspicuously walk around, keeping an eye out for him. It was just her luck that she found him exiting a casino not too long into her search.

Dark hair pulled into a low ponytail and eyes covered by those somewhat ridiculous sunglasses, Blake Hall was nowhere near an intimidating opponent for Giovanni or Team Rocket. His miniscule Team was more or less just an ant in the way.

What was valuable was the business.

Blake Hall had a pretty good business going on. He was currently the President of Altru Inc., a very innovative and promising energy company. While the company did well enough, obtaining money through the oil industry, it was the company's work and research into new and more reliable energy sources that was the real goldmine.

If Hall was out, his company was up for grabs. There'll be chaos, people wanting to sell their stocks in the company, etc. It would be easy to capitalize on his death.

Without further thought, Eve looked down and made herself look busy and distracted, aiming straight for Hall. She promptly bumped into him purposely, and ended up falling to the ground next to him. She winced a bit from it, but she managed to brace herself enough for impact beforehand.

"Watch it, you – "

Hall was cut off, as Eve looked up, looking up at him with her stormy gray eyes and a sheepish smile.

"Sorry," she rubbed her head in 'embarrassment.' "I was so distracted, I wasn't even paying attention to what direction I was going!"

Hall laughed loudly, extending a hand to her and helping her up. "No, no! I should have noticed you and taken care to step aside or warn you."

Smiling at him, Eve held out her hand. "I'm Talia. It's nice to meet you…?"

"The name's Blake," he smiled at her, trying to be discreet as he looked her up and down. "You may have heard of me? Blake Hall, President of Altru Inc.?"

Eve made herself look like she finally recognized him. "Oh yes! I know you. But you're so much more handsome than I heard you would be."

He grinned a little more smugly, puffing up ridiculously. "Talia, dear, have you had dinner yet? I would love to take you out to dinner."

Eve laughed lightly. "Well, that sounds like a wonderful offer. Of course I would!"

He'd politely held out his arm and she took it, and he'd led her to a car where they sat in the back and the driver up front started it.

"Go to that nice restaurant I went to yesterday. The one with the fabulous salmon," Hall ordered his driver.

The driver started to move, and Hall turned back to her, starting in rambling about his company and trying to impress Eve. She was beyond grateful when they finally arrived at the restaurant, and he'd finally shut up. But then came the time in the restaurant, where after they'd ordered (and he insisted on ordering for her), when she had to again suffer through another bout of boastful blathering.

When the meal came, she inwardly gave a sigh in relief and pretended to focus on her meal of the salmon he'd praised and gone about earlier in the car.

* * *

Blake was feeling fantastic. His company was doing well, his Team were working hard, and he'd just won a jackpot at the casino. Lady Luck and life was on his side, and everything was falling onto his lap.

And now he'd found a catch.

A lovely young woman with silky brown hair he'd managed to quickly sneak a touch of, eyes that were fiery as storms but just as gray as them, and a sleek body that moved like a dancer's. She laughed into his ear, her slender hands touching his chest, and letting him boldly hold her hips. He grinned roguishly and chanced a kiss to her neck, letting the giggling girl drag him into his room. Inside, he leaned forward and aimed a kiss right for her lips, only to be shocked as a change overcame Talia.

Her face became less giggly and drunken, and instead was stony as her hand shot out and gripped his throat, pushing him against the door. He could feel his air being cut off and he was struggling to breathe, so he desperately pushed her forward and used all his strength to do so. She moved back and almost stumbled onto the bed, but since she still had a grip on him, he'd come chasing after. Grabbing her hand and managing to yank it off his throat, he turned to make a dash towards the door, only for strong legs to come up and encircle his throat again and start choking him once more.

Blake could feel his airways being crushed, and he made desperate grabs at her legs. But her thighs choking him squeezed only harder and he knew his veins were probably popping out of his skin and bursting.

His vision immediately started getting hazy and he found it harder to think. He was gasping for breath, and he was already losing sight.

What little vision he had left, he saw Talia's face above him, looking down at him dispassionately as she choked the life out of him without remorse.

And then he saw nothing at all.

* * *

Eve blinked and looked down, cautiously making sure Hall wasn't going to pop up alive and struggle again. When she was sure of that, she unfolded her legs, and sat up a little more on the edge of the bed as Hall's body slid off the edge and hit the ground with a thump. Checking for a pulse, she found nothing.

Deciding to get to work, she hauled him onto the bed and removed his clothing. From there, she found his tie from the pile of his clothing and carefully tied it around his neck and tightened it tightly. Then she clinically took his hand and wrapped it around his genitalia, making sure he was holding himself in a tight grip.

As far as anyone was concerned, he would have died in an erotic asphyxiation accident.

Started 4/10/15 – Completed 8/31/15


	7. Chapter Two: Lavender Blues

Eve was heading back to Viridian, making great headway into her journey back. It was when she'd stopped by Lavender Town that she was surprised. The normally peaceful town was in chaos.

She blinked, observing the people running around and the fires on buildings. She frowned to herself, remembering there was a Team Rocket unit that had been set up there. If they were the cause of this…

Team Rocket's presence was supposed to be on the down low. They weren't supposed to be causing such a huge uproar and making a racket that would draw attention to them.

And she was certain it was Team Rocket, and Grunt work at that, considering the signs she was seeing all around. She almost sneered, but held it in and instead called in to Giovanni to report about the situation.

"Eve," he greeted her and she felt herself hold herself immobile at his voice. Shaking her head, she spoke into the phone indifferently.

"Giovanni, there's a situation here in Lavender Town."

She could hear the frown in his voice as he next spoke.

"What situation? Tell me what is wrong."

So she told him what she saw of Lavender Town. Eve could hear him inhale in irritation.

"Find the unit and take over," Giovanni ordered. "Make sure they learn their lesson."

"Of course, Giovanni. I'll return back with them afterwards."

"Make sure you do so quickly," he murmured, and she uncomfortably straightened up.

She hung up then without another word, making her wince at herself. However, she pushed it out of her mind and began looking through the town, making sure to keep to herself and blend in with the panicking citizens.

Closer to where the Pokémon Tower was, she saw a group of Rocket agents skulking in the shadows of the tower. One of them was yelling about and waving their arms, while the rest stood placidly and irritably next to the angry red head. A young woman stood with the group, looking blandly at the yelling red head and occasionally tugging at a strand of her highlighted pixie cut. The electric blue highlights were in deep contrast to the natural black hair, and she could assume from the hairstyle that the woman was the rebellious, maybe punkish type.

If she had a chip on her shoulder, she'll find that Eve wouldn't tolerate much sass, especially directed towards her.

Aside from the young woman and the red head, there were two other males that were rather average. Good-looking, yes. Not memorable though. Average coloring, average handsomeness, average height and weight. Not too tall, not too short. Not too skinny, but definitely far from overweight (a leanness that belied that they might be at least capable of some fight).

She knew at that point, that they were disorganized and something had upset their unit and mission there, else this whole situation wouldn't have erupted the way it seemed to have. Eve fingered a pokéball, before she took it off her belt and threw it from all the way where she was, her Absol landing in the middle of the group and surprising them.

He growled viciously at them, freaking them out and making them become terrified of him.

"Hey! You freak! Get the hell out of here," the red head made a swipe towards Eve's Absol.

"I wouldn't do that," Eve spoke out then, catching their attention. She gave them all a cold look, as they instantly recognized her and looked at her with both awe and fear. "He's been known to tear off the hands that dare come near him and do stupid things like that."

She whistled and he came towards her in a sleek strut that emphasized Absol's grace and deadliness.

"I don't want to know what happened here. You can each fill out a report back in Headquarters to do that. What I do know is that there is currently chaos in a town that's usually peaceful, and that brings attention. Attention that Team Rocket is currently trying to avoid," she sneered at them, making them all flinch.

"You all had the specific orders of setting up here, and subtly containing a Rocket presence in the area, and to take note of passing trainers. Obviously, that's gone poorly," she said, allowing a bit of scorn to filter through her voice. "Now I'm taking over and you all need to start cleaning up and erasing all evidence of your presence here. When you're done, we're evacuating the area and heading back to Viridian City, where each one of you will be reporting to Giovanni directly."

That put even more fear in them and they straightened up.

"Yes, ma'am!"

They scrambled away from her after her dismissal and began to clean up around their area, before going inside the tower and retrieving their things from there.

Her head was already starting to ache with the trouble she was undoubtedly just saddled with.

* * *

Eve learned the leader of this unit was the electric blue hair-streaked woman, whose name was Janette Tudor. She recognized the name, even remembering that some had dubbed her The Tudor Rose.

She was…less punkish, but still a rebellious type of person. As she observed the other woman, who was ironically older than Eve and yet lower in rank, she noted that Janette was spunky and even good enough to lead…just a very unsure leader at the moment.

Her unit got along with each other and with her (minus that red head, who proceeded to annoy Eve with every little thing he did). The problems were that they treated her more like a friend and didn't take too well to taking orders.

All in all, the more she watched and observed the details about the group, the more she realized that there was potential overall in them. Janette especially (as Eve observed her the most), but her leadership was lacking.

This might be a little spontaneous, but…

"Tudor," Eve spoke out and the young woman snapped to attention, eagerly coming over to her. "We'll be together for a long journey, and your leadership can be quite lacking," she bluntly told the other. "Therefore I want you to stick close and take note of what you should be doing to keep your unit in line."

The woman's downtrodden expression was quick to change into an enthusiastic one.

"Yes, ma'am! You can bet I'll do my best to become a better leader in your presence, ma'am!"

Eve almost rolled her eyes. Well, at least Janette didn't have that chip that Eve was worried she'd have.

"So do you have family?" Eve wondered, continuing to extricate information from her.

"Yes, actually. I'm an only child of Catherine and Anders Tudor, both military. I grew up around military bases actually, so I guess you can call me a military brat," she shrugged. "They were 'killed in the line of duty' so I ran away and lived on my own, usually in shelters and the like for a few days. Then I was recruited into Team Rocket first through my cracker skills and worked as a Grunt in the tech division. But after hearing about you, I decided to become more of a field agent and have been doing my best to hold myself to your standards."

Eve hid her twitch, watching the woman warily, and seeing the intent stare directed at herself.

"That's…nice. Anything else?"

Eve found a few more things about Janette. One, her parents weren't actually dead. They'd been found alive, long after the attack where a fellow soldier suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress had turned on their unit in the middle of them infiltrating an island that was housing a branch of Team Magma.

She also, after constant emphasis at different times, hugely admired Eve. In fact, it was beyond hero worship. She was practically infatuated.

Janette, it seemed, had some sort of…crush.

"Keep close and learn what you can," Eve decided to brush it off and focus on what really mattered.

It was a strange and unexpected detail, but something that Eve could deal with in the long run.

* * *

They were finally almost finished and Eve had noted Lavender Town was settling down for the most part. Fires had been put out, and now there was only smoke trailing into the dark sky. They were now having dinner and letting their pokémon eat with them.

It was then that she noted the treatment of the pokémon. Most of them, from Janette to the twin-like Fred and Grant (something about the pairing of the F and G of their first names gnawed at her…) were pretty cordial enough with their pokémon, if not indifferent sometimes. Though each of them had a pokémon they were inclined to treat the best compared to the others, so the situation wasn't wholly unsalvageable.

But that was barely good enough, and the red head –Peter Wrick –was the worse, as she watched him and his Rattata.

"You there," she snapped out and everyone looked at her and saw who she was looking at.

Peter shifted uncomfortably, while everyone else shot him pitiable looks. She crumbled up the paper towel she'd been using and stood up slowly, still watching him. However, she addressed the others then as well.

"How dismal. Your pokémon are like your partners," she laughed slightly, but it didn't sound like a nice laugh at all. "Your pokémon need to work in concert with you. They are paired with you as you are paired with a human partner. It's your _team_ versus the rest of the world, any and all who are against Team Rocket."

She stalked towards Peter, who cowered back as she neared. And though she was still addressing the group, she never took her eyes off of him.

"Team Rocket's main go-to, for our front specialty, are usually pokémon. To steal them, coerce them and bring them into the Team, etc. We run in a specific way. Our goal is to create a Team that is powerful in every way –money, pokémon, collection…"

She reached Peter, who looked up at her from his spot in fear. She then snapped her hand out and gripped his hair, pulling him forward, before she twisted him backwards so that he bent back and was unable to gain balance at the same time as his spine was bending too much backwards.

"Broken pokémon are useless. The same way broken agents are useless."

To drive in her point a little more, she bent him a little more at the same time as she tightened her grip on his hair, earning a yelp from him.

Eve let go then and he toppled backwards, laying there helplessly and trying to regain his bearings and let his body recuperate.

"Treat your pokémon any lesser than yourself, and you'll find that you can become just as useless and disposable to us as you think they are to you."

She then walked back to where her pokémon, all proud and poised in their spots (and as dangerous as she), were predatorily watching the rest of them (human and pokémon alike) as they ate their meal.

This group was pitiably naïve and miserably unknowing of the mechanics of the Team.

* * *

Thinking back to the pokémon, she was reminded of the main incident of this town that had caused Team Rocket some setbacks.

It was why she was in front of the grave of the Marowak that was accidentally killed some years ago, when the original Rocket unit had been set up in the town and had mucked up their mission with Marowak's death.

She hadn't been in the Team at the time (she was almost sure of this, but not quite –her memory wasn't reliable after all). But she did know that it was one of the reasons why pokémon being taken in alive was made known to be preferable –pokémon were usually more profitable alive, and they were also more useful alive to the Team.

What use were pokémon that couldn't do anything for them? Make them, and _keep_ them, healthy and strong, so that they not only cooperated with the Team, but become just as loyal as any human member.

That was why the Grunts, the ones who usually tended to make their pokémon miserable and even end up abusing them, would be extremely punished should they be caught doing so.

Damaged pokémon weren't any use to the Team, which made the owners just as of no use.

"Hello. I hadn't expected to see anyone here."

She turned, broken out of her thoughts, to see an elderly man, who carried a small bouquet of flowers for a grave. She was surprised when he came closer to her and placed it at the gravemarker of the Marowak's grave.

"It's nice to see others visiting her," the old man, whom Eve could guess was Mr. Fuji when she recollected anyone that could've been important in this town and who would care enough to visit the late Marowak. "It was unfortunate what happened, but what can be expected out of anything involving Team Rocket? They don't care about pokémon…"

Eve hmmed, looking to the grave. Then she turned back to the old man.

"That would be incorrect. Pokémon are a necessity and part of Team Rocket's livelihood. The fools who had been here and had killed the Marowak? A bunch of idiots with no sense and an inability to control themselves and keep the situation in control. They're the lowest of Team Rocket for a reason."

Still, Eve took something from her pocket that she purposely brought along to bring to here, when she first thought of coming to the Marowak's grave.

A single red spider lily that she managed to find around the area.

"Higanbana," Mr. Fuji murmured, gazing at the flower.

Eve smiled, though it wasn't cold or cruel at all, nor indifferent.

It was a little sad.

"Perhaps she will find she will meet her child again in reincarnation."

What with the Cubone child she left behind, as told to her by Fred and Grant, having found a home with the old man beside her, it would be a long while until then perhaps.

"The Flower of the Afterlife doesn't always have to be associated with Hell," she mused aloud.

She started to walk away then and didn't look back at the contemplative man behind her.

Started 2/20/16 – Completed 3/2/16


	8. Chapter Three: Lightning Strikes

They'd just rushed through Route 12 and then 11 to reach Vermilion City. It was nighttime by the time they reached the Electric City, and they were ready to take a break and stop for the night at the Vermilion base located there.

Eve felt restless though. She couldn't stay in the base with them, instead choosing to wander around the city on her own. Funnily enough, she found herself standing in front of the Pokémon Fan Club House.

Something about it felt familiar, but she couldn't remember.

She scoffed to herself. It wasn't like that was something new. She was always close to reaching for something in her mind, so close but never too close.

Making the decision to head in, Eve went into the Club House and was immediately assaulted with the sounds of people fighting amongst themselves. It gave her a sense of nostalgia though, so she didn't even feel annoyed. She was more amused as she listened to them argue over the best Eevee evolution.

"No, no, no! The original Eeveelutions are the best!"

"I disagree! Sylveon are adorable!"

She laughed quietly to herself, feeling an ache inside she couldn't explain. She swallowed the bitterness short and walked back out quickly, cutting her visit short. Instead, she headed to the harbor and leaned against the wooden rails.

For a while, she just watched the ships coming and leaving, the lights fully on in many of them. She herself was more in the shadows though.

"Fancy seeing you here."

She didn't look back at the gym leader, feeling herself smile tiredly.

"Didn't expect you to come seeking me out so quickly," she replied back with a tinge more revealing sense than she'd wanted to come out.

Lieutenant Lucien Surge was always someone she had never minded being around or hanging with. He always had a steady composure, and in the world they lived in, she had found him to be the closest to a best friend that she had in Team Rocket.

"You son of a gun," she murmured but was grinning as she finally turned to him, not surprised that he had moved closer to her in the meantime. She accepted the quick, friendly embrace and pat on the back, both of which she echoed, before they pulled back and were grinning widely at each other.

"How is it you can always sneak up on me?" Eve asked laughingly.

"Experience," Lucien boasted. But he shook his head. "But you knew I was here. Don't lie. No one ever gets by you, Widow."

"Had to cater to your ego, didn't I?" she kept grinning.

"Tough luck, sugar lips. Didn't work…much," Lucien cracked back. "Want to head to the shooting range?"

"You know what…yeah. I've got some pent-up aggression to take out," Eve decided to go with him. He raised his eyebrows at her, but she didn't elaborate. "We heading over or what?"

"Come on then," he smirked. "I've got some new toys since the last time you were in the city."

Eve laughed freely and followed the man to his car, where she let him blast his music as he drove like a maniac back to his gym. Parking haphazardly to the side of the gym, the two of them made the familiar trek to the back, where Lucien had his own personal shooting range set up. His gun collection was also locked up there, and she whistled as she saw the new firearms he'd bought.

"Impressive indeed," she complimented. "You shoot them yet?"

"Nah, got them this morning. Haven't had a chance," he huffed. "Want to try some of them out?"

"Yes," Eve held out a hand. Lucien snickered as he grabbed one of the newer ones and tossed it to her.

For some time the two of them shot at targets, and Eve relaxed with each bullet that was let out. The tension just eased out of her body while she shot up the target she was aiming at.

"You got some issues?" Lucien asked, moving to go behind her as he finished up.

She put down her own firearm and took off her muffler, turning to face him.

"Annoying memories," she said flatly.

"Annoying _missing_ memories," Lucien murmured, filling in what she wasn't saying.

"Nothing unusual," she shrugged, not looking at him.

He put the muffler back on her head, peeling off one side. "Up for a competition? Loser makes dinner."

"I want a medium rare steak," she told him.

"Who says I'm going to lose?!"

Eve snickered under her breath as she picked her chosen gun and waited until the targets had been reset. Then, on the count of three, Eve shot first into her target.

"You know, I've had more recent experience at shooting live people than you," she said over the sound of the gun firing.

"Bullshit! Well, yeah –maybe that's true. But I've got a lifetime of experience, sweetheart!"

"Know that, Rambo," Eve playfully sneered. "But I've got myself time and experience to equal that out, especially with you stagnating as a gym leader!"

"Hah! That means nothing," Lucien snarked. "I've got more time to kill than running around on the roads and all. I can just hang out here and waste time with my guns, and not lose any skill."

It was his turn and she admitted that he was pretty impressive too.

"To be honest," Lucien said afterwards. "You probably have a better kill count and maybe even fighting skills, but I've got the edge of shooting. I need a sparring partner," he grumbled at the end. "You need to come around more often."

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Eve mused aloud, following Lucien to start picking up the shells from the ground. "I need someone to fight with than usually Archer." At that, she grimaced.

"Stick up his ass still lodged in?" Lucien said crudely, grinning viciously.

It made Eve feel a little better and not as upset as she usually was at the mention of the blunet Rocket Executive.

"Sometimes I really just can't be around him," she pursed her lips, glaring at the ground.

Lucien patted her shoulder. "Look, don't bother with him. He's…got his own issues. Now come on –I'll make the steaks."

"I lost," she said in amusement.

He shrugged back in answer. "I'm feeling steaks anyhow. Now quit complaining and come on."

Eve shook her head, but gladly followed him back to his home.

* * *

After dinner, where they caught up on Team Rocket business and what was going on in their lives, they decided to head to a bar. From there, Lucien ordered straight up vodka while Eve decided to go with a Whiskey on the Rocks first.

"So how're you and Giovanni?" Lucien asked, watching her carefully.

She was frowning into her glass. "Fine. He checks in, makes sure I do my job and I'm okay, and that's it."

She was pretty evasive to him though. He was curious still, because he knew the past. Knew how Giovanni felt himself. Had never forgotten how _Leaf_ felt, even if she was Eve now…

Not that he hadn't forgotten the rule. Don't mention anything of the past. Don't hint it to her. Don't talk about it to her. The past was best forgotten.

But he'd been mind-numbingly in love with Leaf like he was with Eve now.

Just like Giovanni was.

"Another glass, bartender!" Eve called out, already finished with hers and sliding the empty glass smoothly to the bartender. He refilled it and slid it back, with Eve neatly catching it. Not a single drop had been spilled between the two.

Amused, Lucien chuckled and downed his own drink and made to get a refill.

If Giovanni had known about this outing and him letting Eve drink, he'd kill Lucien. In fact, the lieutenant was pretty sure that he would have preferred that Eve hadn't stopped by the city at all, or that the two of them hadn't met up.

He was always a jealous bastard.

Muttering under his breath, he began sipping at his new drink, watching the girl by his side.

"You ever feel like the world is against you?" Eve asked him suddenly.

"All the fucking time," Lucien replied.

"I hate this," she confessed to him. "I hate what I'm doing. I hate this line…this circle…damn it, this _something_ that surrounds, is in between me and Giovanni all the time. There's a line that's not supposed to be crossed, but I know it does because it's become too blurry and I don't know what to do."

"You ever think of just giving into him?" Lucien said carefully, picking up his drink and looking down into it.

Damn, what was he saying?

Still, she went quiet at that and he didn't push her to answer.

"There's something inside of me that just can't do that," she said finally, voice restrained.

 _'_ _That would be the Leaf still inside of you,'_ he thought tiredly. _'_ _The girl who couldn't keep away from Giovanni, but couldn't come too near his darkness either.'_

"Let's just drink," he said instead. "We're getting too depressing."

Shit, when it came to Giovanni, he'd never been on the man's good side. Not since they both met this girl and it just became something in between them that would never go away so long as all three of them were alive.

And an hour later, after their drinking binge, he was more than sure that if Giovanni ever found out what had happened in the bar, he'd definitely be killed.

But if Giovanni knew that he and Eve sort of drunkenly crashed into each other at the inside of his house, just a step through the door, the other man would come to personally take care of Lucien himself.

However, as Lucien remembered, he had never been the one in contention with Leaf. He had never been the man that had pulled her in, only to reveal the darkness too late.

Then again, Leaf and Giovanni – _Eve_ and Giovanni? They'd always been magnetized towards each other no matter what. Towards the end of Leaf, even after Giovanni had revealed who he really was, the two of them seemed drawn to each other regardless.

Lucien was just standing in the way.

Honestly, he was damn well okay with that (besides, Archer was in a worse situation). He didn't mind being the bitter man that was in the way, and he'll continue to be that bitter man right up to the moment Giovanni put a bullet in his head.

Right now, with his hands buried into her hair, his lips moving against hers, he didn't mind being on death row.

He was in love and wanted to hold onto her for as long as he could, so he was okay being a little unsteady.

* * *

The next morning called for a headache and warning bells to sound in his head as he woke up, feeling the warm body next to him before he even looked over.

Spotting Eve still quietly slumbering, he blinked lethargically before staring up at his ceiling.

"Life's a piece of shit," he muttered, rubbing a hand down his face.

His phone rang and he saw who it was. He thought that was just his luck.

"Giovanni," he mumbled into the phone, watching Eve sleep as he sat up on the bed.

"You were rather careless last night," Giovanni's voice was dark as he spoke smoothly, though Lucien wasn't deaf to the anger simmering underneath.

That Giovanni wasn't already there meant that, despite the fact he was pretty watchful over Eve and had eyes everywhere, the Rocket Boss didn't know anything beyond the fact they'd gotten horribly drunk at a bar.

Lucien was in hot water with him, but he wasn't dead just yet.

"I made sure she's alright and didn't get into any drunken problems," Lucien answered nonchalantly. "Don't worry about her too much."

Giovanni was probably really irritated right now.

"Take care not to step over anymore lines than you've already had," Giovanni ordered, a bit of his irritation seeping through to his voice.

"Yes, sir," Lucien refrained from letting out a hysterical laugh.

All those lines were crossed and gone.

"Good," Giovanni snapped before hanging up on him.

"Ugh," Lucien heard Eve grumble, shifting on the bed. She then groggily got up from the bed and then rushed to his bathroom, starting to throw up.

Lucien shook his head, wearing a small smile. She'd never been very good with alcohol, even back before she ever became the Rocket agent she was these days.

Leaf had been horrible handling alcohol.

Started 3/18/16 – Completed 3/20/16


	9. Chapter Four: Watergate

Eve blearily sat at the kitchen table, blinking tiredly as she yawned and stretched. She automatically grabbed the glass of orange juice from Lucien, breathing the smells of breakfast as she slowly woke up. Her head was pounding, but that was what she got for getting drunk and all.

"Take the aspirin on the table in front of you too," he said in amusement.

She gave an unamused grunt, but found the pills he was talking about, swallowing them down quickly. Then she drank her juice before ravenously starting in on the heavy breakfast plate Lucien just placed in front of her.

"You leaving today?" he asked idly.

"Yeah," she shrugged. "Have to report back to base after finishing the two missions I was on. I also have to drag along a few amateur agents and have them report back too, especially after the mess made in Lavender Town."

"I heard about that," he hmmed thoughtfully. "So you'll be heading through Cerulean, I take it."

Eve hesitated. "Yes…I have business to handle there as well."

Lucien raised an eyebrow. "That sounds ominous."

"Don't worry about it," she halfheartedly smirk. "Besides, gives me time to stall some more before I have to head back and face Archer."

"And someone else?" Lucien gave her a pointed look.

At that, she looked away and didn't deign to give him an answer.

And later, as she said goodbye, she still didn't talk to him about that. Her business with Giovanni was between the two of them, even if she usually just ignored anything about it or refused to acknowledge it in anyway.

Crossing that line was too dangerous to contemplate.

Instead, she left Vermilion with a heavy air, her distractedness easily seen by her group. They traveled in tense silence, only managing to concentrate on going faster until they reached Cerulean City in no time. Given it was evening, Eve told them that they were staying the night. Once she had made sure her temporary unit had gotten settled in, she separated from them to look for her current focus. It wasn't hard to find him, considering he tended to be around the training grounds.

"Orm," she called out and she watched as The Three Beasts member tensed and turned to look at her warily.

"Eve," he greeted with an uncomfortable twitch. "I'm surprised to see you back so soon. Is there something you need from me?"

"I need to talk to you about something," she said coolly and turned first to head out of there, not bothering to wait and already knowing he'd follow. Within moments, she heard heavy steps behind her and knew she had been right about the gigantic man.

They made it to an area where she deemed was safe and private, and faced Orm with an intense appearance, causing him to just barely hold back on flinching.

"You know your teammates well, don't you?" she asked quietly.

Orm swallowed heavily, but nodded in response.

"The Three Beasts have been on my mind lately," she murmured, causing him to straighten up and inwardly feel alarmed that the Widow was so interested in them all of a sudden. "I know _you're_ loyal to the Team," which he only mildly relaxed at, "but there's something to be said about Sird and Carr."

He stiffened up again and watched his superior cautiously.

"To be honest, despite her vicious and cruel personality, I don't doubt Sird either. She's a crazed, obsessive sadist, but she's good at what she does and doesn't get swayed so easily. Carr on the other hand…"

That made him frown heavily. He'd never liked the little punk, but to know that he could potentially be a traitor…That rankled him and made him want to find his teammate and force the truth out of the little bastard.

"I've seen in recent times and heard things –his behavior is suspicious. Sird may be a wild card, but she's loyal. Carr on the other hand…he needs to be under a watchful eye. Do you understand?" Eve watched him closely.

Orm nodded determinedly, eyes growing dark. "Yes, Ma'am. Understood. I won't let you down."

She gave him a rare smile, something he'd only heard about, and her hard features softened and made his breath catch. He'd heard her cold beauty turned into something even more majestic when she actually smiled, and he could confirm the rumors himself now.

"Good. Take care then, Orm. I'll see you around." Her smile lasted for a second more, letting him take as much time as he could to etch it to memory, before it faded and she nodded at him, turning on her heel and leaving him behind.

* * *

The Three Beasts. They were known and feared through the ranks of Team Rocket, the lieutenants of Giovanni's Rocket hierarchy. They were just below the Rocket Executives and above the rest. Each of them had fearsome reputations, from Carr's brutality to Orm's ruthlessness to Sird's sadism.

They hadn't always been like this though. Eve had read the reports on their pasts, and had in fact been the one to put them together into a singular team.

Carr had been a career criminal. He'd grown up in a poor and abusive household, and had been in and out of juvie all through his younger years. By the time he was in his twenties, he'd easily slipped into serious crime, and mostly pulled off the heists he came up with or was a part of. However, he had a temper and those who'd worked with him knew it and tried not to work with him again if they could help it. The Executives had heard about him and his success rate, so Proton had been sent out to recruit him. His temper had been dealt with too –a week long session with Odette easily dulled that hot temper of his. She didn't look it or acted like it most of the time, but Odette could be a terrifying individual.

Orm was a different mold and ironically opposite his teammate. As small as Carr was, Orm was huge. He'd always been a monstrous size, so even with a loving home, he'd been picked on by everyone else but his parents. Because he was big and 'scary,' when the death of a young girl in his old neighborhood happened, all fingers were pointed at him. It was like a Frankenstein reboot, with Orm as Frankenstein and the rest of the neighborhood as the mob that angrily cornered him in his home. His home burned down with his parents in it, while he had managed to escape as his parents masked his getaway. He'd gone to hide in and squat in buildings, trying to make do, until he caught Giovanni's eye himself and he'd offered the teen a place in the Team and home and shelter.

Sird was something else entirely. She was cut from a different cloth than either of the two, and Eve admitted that while she didn't care for Sird's sadism, she could admit it had been rightly earned by the other woman. Sird had been a pretty bride to be from a well-to-do family; everything had been right and happy in her life. She had even been engaged.

The problem had been that she'd been a Psychic living in Johto.

It had been something she and her family had hid for years, and she had done everything she could to suppress those powers and accepted whatever her family had given and told her to do to keep her powers suppressed. It didn't always work though, and one day her fiancé found out. He hadn't reacted badly then and Sird had been relieved. A few days later, she was on her way home from work when she'd been accosted. She'd been left for dead until Giovanni had found her, brought her back to a Rocket base in that city, and had her healed and helped. When she was stable and without suppressions, her fury burst out and her Psychic powers went wild. She'd stormed out of that base and gone searching for her attacker, having briefly been able to skim his mind during the attack and finding out who he was. She found him, killed him, and did so slowly –a new thirst for blood awoken in her. But she found out something else –her fiancé had hired her attacker to get rid of her.

Needless to say, she wore her wedding gown, found her fiancé, and ended up staining her wedding gown entirely red by the end of the night.

She went back to Giovanni, lost and still angry, and somehow found herself a place on the Team. Eve thought that there was still probably a lot of lingering anger in Sird, and probably would never go away for as long as the woman lived.

Needless to say, Eve had found out about each of them and had gone to Giovanni, somehow managing to convince him that these three wild cards would somehow make a good unit. And somehow or other, they really had ended up being a good team, infamous even. Since then, the three of them (separately and as a unit) had gained reputations and upheld them to this day, with Eve admitting it made her proud even. It was the first team she had ever really put together, and this whole thing with Carr infuriated her. She hated traitors, more so because it had been from the team she'd formed and had a special affection for. The talk with Orm had made her horribly tense, with her still thinking about the situation and the fact there was even a possible traitor in their midst at all making her even more tense.

"Eve, there's someone on the line for you," Janette hesitantly interrupted her brooding, and Eve turned stormy gray eyes onto her. Her subordinate flinched. "It's an… _Xavier_?"

Eve blinked, abruptly drawn from her aggravated state at the name of a familiar Rocket agent she hadn't seen for a while now.

"It's Xavier, pronounced 'Zavier,'" Eve corrected. She held out her hand and Janette handed her the phone, before scuttling out of there to give Eve privacy.

"Xavier?"

"Well, if it isn't Miss Evey," she could hear him smirking through the phone.

She blanched at the nickname though. "I hate puns and I hate that nickname," she groused, causing him to chuckle at her. "What are you calling me for? How did you know I was here?"

"I got lucky," he told her. "I've been calling around and managed to pinpoint you here through deduction. How have you been? Have you been taking care of yourself? Drinking the proper amount of water? You never drink enough water. I should hope you've been eating too –and not a lot of those ration bars! I know you tend to eat plenty of those on missions, which is doubly worrying, considering just how many missions you take on. And about those missions –you need to cut back on those. You take on too much and don't get enough rest, and those are such hazardous missions anyway –"

"You're being such a mother-hen," Eve cut him off, rolling her eyes.

Xavier tended to do that. He was a horrible worrier and mother-henned those he cared about. His usual exasperated, sarcastic self took a backseat when he got worried. Honestly, Eve was sure that the new Bones off of that sci-fi reboot was based off of Xavier. They could be twins or something.

Still, his mother-henning and talking to him managed to calm her down from her tenseness, and the serious talk she had with Orm didn't seem so bad right then.

"You really do sound tired, Evey," Xavier murmured and Eve sighed, leaning back against the couch and letting her head fall back as she closed her eyes.

Music drifted through to the living room, and Eve could guess that one of the others had decided to play something and get rid of the silence. For a moment, Eve listened to the song and her breaths began to slowly mimic a slower rhythm.

"Wouldn't that be nice?" she mumbled. "Who doesn't want to just get high by the beach and forget everything?"

They were in Cerulean after all. Water was everywhere…

"Take a nap, Eve," Xavier's voice was gentle. "You need rest. When you wake up, look for the box of cookies I sent over for you, alright?"

She felt a smile grace her lips. He always did have that sweet tooth.

"Stop checking in on me," she mumbled, feeling herself slip in and out of sleep.

"Someone sane has to. Odette's a box of firecrackers and who wants her checking in on anyone?" though his voice sounded fond about his ex-partner. "And you refuse to acknowledge any concern from Giovanni."

She laughed briefly at that before a yawn escaped.

"Goodnight, Evangeline," she heard him murmur into her ear.

"Night, Xavier," she muttered before falling asleep and slumping slightly over to the side.

The phone fell out of her hands and Xavier listened to the sounds of her even breaths before he hung up.

* * *

In midst of her sleep, she felt someone rummaging near her. Though mostly still in the clutches of sleep, as she felt whoever it was hover near her, she simultaneously darted her hand out and snatched up their collar, while realizing that there was suddenly a soft blanket over her.

She slowly opened her eyes to see there was indeed a blanket over her, and then looked up to see Fred with his hands up.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I thought you might like a blanket…"

She let go of him. "Sorry," she muttered. Her fingers picked at the blanket. "And thanks."

Eve looked at the time, saw it was near three in the morning and frowned at the clock. It was early, but she doubted she'd be able to fall back to sleep again.

"I, um, overheard some of your conversation yesterday, with the others," Fred told her sheepishly, causing Eve to give him a sharp look. He held up a bento-styled lunchbox that had been zipped up. "I found your cookies and repackaged them into this. I figure you'd want to leave early and quickly, and went to find them –plus, the box it was in was kind of flimsy…"

She was caught off guard by the other's thoughtfulness and observed him. He and Grant tended to meld and intentionally make it hard to differentiate them, and make it even more complicated by acting like twins, but the two were definitely different in looks and sometimes attitude. It wasn't noticeable, but Fred tended to be the one who got cynical faster than Grant. They were both light-hearted and somewhat goofy (which leant towards their tendency to goof around), but after what happened with Fred's sister (she read Fred's background), they'd gotten a lot more disillusioned and pessimistic. It was why they'd joined up with Team Rocket in the first place.

Her eyes flitted over to the pink, flowery bento-like lunchbox, and Fred scratched his head in embarrassment.

"It's my niece's," he admitted. That's right. Eve had read that his late sister had a daughter she'd left behind, which she now knew had been staying with Fred. "She's in the Viridian base."

Quietly, Eve shifted the blanket over to the side and stood up. She went to go pass him, but briefly clasped his shoulder and offered a small smile.

"I guess you'll get to see her soon."

Fred beamed back at her as she walked on, deciding to get in a quick shower so she'd feel refreshed and more awake.

Started 8/15/16 – Completed 8/16/16


	10. Chapter Five: Stoneheart

Eve cracked her neck slightly, overseeing her group as they entered the Pewter City Rocket Base. It was their last stop before they would finally reach Viridian City, so they were going to take a few hours that morning to have a break before they set off again.

She herself was relaxing for once, allowing the others to drag her with them as they found somewhere in the base to grab some grub. They'd actually settled down with their food at a table in the food court, when she froze at the sight of an unwanted company heading towards her.

Reluctantly, she stood up to greet Archer Bellafonte, the only other person that was above her in the Team (in truth), aside from Giovanni himself.

"I see you've finally made it," Archer noted dissonantly.

"There were complications," Eve replied quietly.

Archer waved a hand dismissively at her. "It doesn't matter. You're here now and it would just be inefficient to drag it on into a lecture."

Eve didn't say anything else and assumed that was all he was going to say.

"How has your pokémon training been?" he asked suddenly, catching her off guard.

"Well enough," she said simply.

"Then let's have a pokémon battle right now," Archer said dispassionately, and Eve almost stared at him strangely before remembering herself and keeping her expression schooled.

She nodded numbly, watching as he took to standing a few feet away and smoothly taking out a pokéball, waiting on her. She walked away from her table, her group all gaping and catching onto what was happening. Soon enough, everyone in the surrounding area had caught on and whispering as they all watched eagerly, anticipating the battle between the top Executive and the Black Widow.

She took a deep breath and then called out her first pokémon.

And afterwards, there was a tense silence that gripped the audience, while Eve stared blankly across to an indifferent Archer. Then, to her surprise, he started to slowly clap.

"Come with me," Archer ordered and turned on his heel. As he didn't acknowledge those around him, even as they exploded into loud talk, she didn't either and followed after him at a sedate pace.

At some place away from where they had battled, Archer spoke.

"Your current strength is adequate, but I see you've been making progress," Archer told her. "Giovanni will be pleased."

That was Archer-talk for "Good job. You've been proceeding well."

Getting compliments in any form from him was like pulling teeth, and so she could only inwardly roll her eyes at his usual coldness. She was surprised she got anything positive at all from him.

Archer gestured towards a door behind her and she quickly got the idea, slipping into the room quietly. Archer entered behind her.

"Report," Archer ordered her then, and Eve thought back to when she had set out and informed him of everything that happened.

Archer's eyes sharpened then. "Orm is trustworthy?"

"Yes," Eve said firmly. "I have no doubts."

"You do have a good sense of people," he reluctantly admitted. His lips pursed. "Sird is a liability, but I agree she's not disloyal. But Carr…"

She saw the muscles around his jaw clench. It was clear he wasn't pleased with having not seen this.

"We will have to subtly look into this," Archer told her. "Weed it out from within, find out what's going on and take care of it thoroughly. There is no room for error and we cannot miss a thing."

"Understood," Eve agreed.

"Have you spoken to Giovanni?"

Eve couldn't hide the grimace from her face, causing Archer to frown.

"Not recently," she said uncomfortably. "The last time was in Celadon City."

"You worry him," he said sharply.

"I tried to tell him I'm fine. He worried regardless." Her uncomfortableness grew, especially since she knew he wasn't just talking specifically about that time and more in general.

Archer's stare bored into her harshly and she couldn't look straight at him.

"Remember your duty," Archer settled on. "If he needs reassuring, fine –do whatever you must, have to, to settle him down. The Team is always your center, especially Giovanni. Do not fail him. Now come follow me."

"He crosses lines I don't want to cross," she blurted out.

He faced her with no expression. "Then don't," he said uncaringly. "You don't have to cross lines to give him what he wants." He gave her a knowing look. "Don't let your emotions and feelings get involved, and you won't cross those lines. Don't forget that he saved you and you owe your life to him."

She nodded in a strained manner and he continued on from before her outburst.

"As I was saying, I want you to follow me."

"Where to?" She allowed a hint of curiosity to show.

"We will be heading to the Pewter City Museum," Archer answered her succinctly. "The Team has an important mission concerning there in upcoming days."

Even more curious now, she stayed quiet and continued to follow after him, sticking to being a step behind him.

* * *

By the time they neared the museum, Eve and Archer had taken a step closer to each other (without missing a beat in their steps and pausing in their walk) and had carefully arranged themselves to look like a couple. She had wrapped her arms loosely around him, while he had laid an arm around her shoulder. She had even plastered a 'tender' smile on her face, which was matched by the slight smile on his.

To an ordinary bystander, they would have looked like a normal couple out on a date around the museum. And if the guards at the entrance thought so, then they were doubly pleased by their own performance.

So once through the metal detectors, they kept walking around until they reached a more secluded area.

"Why are we here?" She kept up her 'tender' smile towards her partner as she murmured that.

"Team Rocket has plans in place for the museum," he revealed, leaning in to better keep talking while having his voice low. It also mimicked a more intimate position that others surrounding them would think nothing of, concerning a couple. "There have been recent developments regarding the fossil revival machine."

She had heard about that. She tried not to look strange as she prodded about it.

"We have it on good authority that it's finally finished being built, and that it is fully functional and ready to be used. In a few days, we will be breaking into the museum to steal an appropriate amount of fossils, and to find either the plans or to where they're holding the fossil revival machine."

"Do you want me to stick around?" she asked, almost starting to frown at more delays to her return. However, she kept the tender smile on at last minute.

"No," Archer surprised her by saying. "We have a unit already in place to take care of the job. They will infiltrate the museum at night, when no one is around, and retrieve the items where a source told us they would be."

"Night's good," she murmured. "Good cover, less people around…but double the amount of guards, especially if what you say is true about the fossil revival machine. The cameras will also have full, better view of the unit. You also don't know for sure if your source is completely positive about location, or even if those things hadn't been moved in the meantime without your source's knowledge. On the other hand, if it's 100%, then that's perfect. It could be in and out of here, with almost no trouble."

Archer nodded. "That's true. We thought of the guards, just not about the doubled amount. No matter, if they succeed with the smoke bomb, they'll all be knocked out and the cameras will be blocked from sight. They'll just have to be quick in their timing, and scour the place if it turns out my source's information is wrong."

Eve hummed lowly. "If they fail, it'll be harder a second time around. They would have moved everything we wanted and have them secured, and this place would be even more fortified."

He didn't answer, gazing around with a sharp eye. Eve looked around as well.

"Why'd you bring me here and tell me all of that? It doesn't seem to concern me."

"You always have a good eye, and I wanted a second opinion of weakness and strengths about the plan and the area," he answered concisely. He then actually smiled slightly. "You also tend to be very useful."

He glanced at her meaningfully and she thought it was appropriate to smirk. She leaned into him again and discreetly handed the keycard she'd stolen off of one of the security guards on the way further inside of the museum.

"Good work," he quietly said and she was caught off guard by how oddly complimentary he'd been that day. It wasn't like him.

She couldn't help looking at him suspiciously and breaking role.

* * *

The two of them were quick to head back to the base. The tension was back and things were completely silent between them. Eve should've been used to it by now though. She was just shocked that Archer was still with her, even when she went to meet up with the others to get ready to leave.

She could tell by the looks on everyone's faces, as they looked hesitantly at Archer by her side, that they weren't sure what to make of the man who was watching them dispassionately.

"Um, ma'am?" Janette ventured.

"Yes?" Eve glanced at her.

"We're all ready," the other cautiously said.

"Good," Archer cut in severely. "We need to make good time."

"We?" Eve asked, not hiding her shock.

Archer gave her a cool look. "Yes. I'll be coming with you."

Eve didn't have to look at the others to see their shock, but she couldn't seem to look away from Archer and say something herself. But she forced herself to nod in the end.

"I…I see. Well, we're ready, it seems."

She hated this and she really did seem to hate him.

Started 8/24/16 – Completed 9/21/16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope people are still reading. Please remember to leave a review so I know people like it or what they didn't like. My friend was working on the pokémon battle between Eve and Archer, but it's not done, so I'll probably add it in later or something~ Again, reviews are very dear.


	11. Chapter Six: Memories Gone By

They had traveled in absolute silence, with a tension in the air that Eve knew was suffocating. Archer hadn't overtly said or done anything to make it so, but his very presence felt stifling to the group and she was very aware that he was watching every move she made and every word she said.

The more time passed though, the more she felt herself slip back into her unemotional safe guard. Her temporary team performed well and listened to her, and she went on as normal, trying to ignore Archer and act as if he wasn't even there. In the meantime, Archer himself kept quiet and to the background, light blue eyes watchful but hard to read.

That was fine with her in the end. So long as they could keep apart.

Eve _was_ glad when they finally made it to Viridian City though, because it meant that she wouldn't actually have to be in Archer's presence. But then they made it to headquarters and Archer's hand fell heavily upon her shoulder. However, he didn't address her at first. Instead, he addressed the others.

"Write up your reports and turn them in," Archer said stoically. "Eve, we will be returning here later. We have elsewhere we need to be."

Keeping everything off of her face, she nodded sharply. When the others dithered, she gave them a look that they quickly acknowledged before departing, even though they looked back to her hesitatingly.

"They're loyal," Archer commented blithely. "They haven't even known you long."

Eve stayed quiet and he gave her a short glance.

"You've always had that kind of charisma to draw others in," he continued and she froze up.

Sometimes, sometimes he or Giovanni made these little comments that hinted at knowing her before, and she never knew whether to ask or to bury it in her mind. Her past was the past after all, but there was always this little need deep in her that howled to want to know everything.

"Where are we going?" she went for instead.

"Pallet Town," Archer answered shortly.

Confused, she debated on whether or not to pester him for more information. He was already heading in the direction of the TR garage, so she followed and waited for him to choose what vehicle they were going in. He picked his personal car, slipping into the driver's seat. Without any prodding, she sat in the seat next to him and then he'd started the car and began driving out of the parking garage.

It took less than half an hour to get to Pallet Town, but Archer barely made it into the city before he found parking and stopped the car. He turned to her and she tensed up.

"Giovanni requested I take you to here," he revealed, surprising her. "It was his wish that you come to Pallet Town and that I have you go around the town and have a look."

"Whatever for?" she asked, still confused.

"That is for you to find out," he said vaguely. "Go on."

With one last hesitant look, Eve got out of the car and began to walk way. Glancing back, she saw that Archer was still in his car, but had taken out a book and was reading indifferently. Sighing to herself, she continued to walk, frowning as she tried to think why Giovanni had wanted her to be here in the first place. Taking out her Absol's pokéball, she released him and he easily jumped out and landed on all fours, already beginning to walk alongside her.

"Hey, you," she smiled slightly. "Looks like you and me are just going to be walking for a while around town. I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for, but at least we'll get a good walk out of this, huh?"

"Absol!"

Absol stuck close to her as they walked and though there were plenty of people around them, Eve paid no attention to them. Though walking around randomly, she soon found her feet taking her to a more quiet and out of the place road, where she traveled all the way down it and up to where she found was an abandoned mansion. To her surprise, the closer she walked to it, the more she began to feel uneasy. That doubled as she saw the state of the mansion and the way trash and graffiti decorated what she could imagine was once a beautiful home.

Licking her lips, she only started to move forward after her Absol surprisingly insistently pushed her onwards.

"Hey, boy," she murmured. "What's up?"

"Ab-Absol," he growled impatiently at her, making her startle but follow his lead.

With trepidation, she ended up walking into the mansion and looking around with a deep frown, trying to ignore the air of emptiness that surrounded the place.

Part of her whispered _'_ _I'm empty inside too…'_

She walked around and noted the faded grandness of the place, seeing a broken piano and a chandelier that had fallen apart. Up a beautiful staircase and down a maze of halls, she soon found herself letting herself reach out, the tips of her fingers running along the surfaces of this haunted home.

"A ghost's home," she muttered, looking around slowly and then stopping right in front of a certain door. Her hand went for the doorknob, only to pause and hesitate.

She swallowed heavily.

 _"_ _Darling, you mustn't run down these steps!"_

An image of a young girl flashed through her head, smiling and giggling. She took a step back.

 _"_ _You should be more conscious of yourself. You're a public figure now, so don't do anything embarrassing."_

An older man, eyes like hers, looking down on her indifferently. A beautiful woman with a bitter gaze and an angry twist to her mouth. And then for a moment, she saw a red-haired little boy –

Eve shook her head and turned from the door, snatching her hand away from the doorknob as she practically ran from that place. Her feet pounded against the carpet and then the marble floor of the foyer, until she was outside and getting the hell away from there, glad her Absol was keeping up with her but not wanting him to tire needlessly, ending up recalling him quickly.

The fact that that place brought up images of things and people she didn't recognize (or remember) bothered her a hell of a lot, but she didn't want to dwell on it at all. In fact, she was doing her best not to think about what had happened, and just focus on getting away from not only the mansion but probably Pallet Town itself, her goal being to find Archer and make their way back to Viridian.

It was just her luck, though, that she ran into someone. And not just _anyone_ –she ran into the very familiar figure of Professor Samuel Oak. But after the two of them managed to straighten up and give out the normal apologies, he'd gotten a good look at her and for some reason his face paled. Her uneasiness came back worse than ever.

"I-I apologize," he said, still staring at her. "You look…like a very dear friend of mine, who I lost long ago." Still, he managed to recover enough and gave her a kind smile that she couldn't help returning for some reason. "I'm Professor Oak."

Eve kept her body lax, trying to keep her uneasiness at bay. "Eve," she said easily, letting her expression look open. "Sorry again for running into you."

He waved her away, smiling further. The corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile.

"It's no matter. May I ask what's gotten you in a hurry?"

"Memories," she found herself saying. It was vague but strangely true, and she wasn't sure whether she'd answered with that on purpose for the vagueness or if something about him or the strange easy, feeling she had with him had caused her to say something of the truth.

Oak laughed. "Is that so? Those are rather hard to run from. No matter how hard some of us may try, memories have a way of coming up and haunting us, don't you think?"

She felt a chill go through her at that. She didn't want her memories, not anymore. Right? She didn't…

Then again, a part of her she thought buried still longed to remember everything that used to be and that she'd forgotten, to somehow fill in the gaping hole in her that made it obvious she wasn't quite whole.

"You know, my friend used to think memories were precious," Oak mused. "She liked to claim she'd hoard them all and trap them into a memory chest, so that she could always find them and reminisce."

"Good and bad memories?" she asked softly.

"Good and bad," he nodded. "Memories make us who we are after all."

 _'_ _Then who am I?'_ she almost asked. For she who was without memories was just a blank slate, right?

The word 'monster' carved and painted on the lonely walls of the mansion came to mind and she felt her lips twist into a wry, bittersweet smile.

She was a monster. That's who she was.

"What happened to your friend?" she asked.

Oak seemed to share her bittersweet look and it made her curious.

"She died."

Eve glanced at him. "We all die sometime though. Maybe, in this kind of world, she was the lucky one."

"Maybe," Oak hummed. "But the ones left behind certainly aren't."

She agreed. They were the ones grieving and remembering after all. She wondered if anyone mourned her, whoever she was before…

Giovanni's face came to mind, but she quickly shut that thought down. Then again, between he and Archer, a metaphorical memory chest might be in reach after all. But could she ask them? The idea of asking Archer anything made her balk, but Giovanni on the other hand…Part of her felt like he would tell her if she asked, but the other part was restless and cautious of doing so from him too.

"I wish I had a memory chest," she said aloud, making her blink in surprise at herself.

Oak gave her a long look. "Memories are precious," he smiled slowly, grimly. "Who wouldn't want one?"

The two of them talked more on other things, mostly idle talk, but it was calm and relaxing and Eve found she was enjoying talking with the professor. She'd heard from him, how he always got rather rattled during Trainer Days, and how he always had to get prepared and have all the pokémon together, as well as pokédexes and whatever else was needed to start a trainer's journey. It was such an easy, comfortable talk, that she was surprised at how well she got along and interacted with Oak. It was familiar too, though she couldn't put a finger on how or why.

That's why she was reluctant, a strange thing yet, to part ways with him, beginning to regretfully end their talk.

"It was lovely talking with you," Oak said, sounding just a touch wistful and sad. "If you're around the town, stop by my lab. I would love to talk with you again."

Eve smiled and agreed, though she inwardly doubted she would. Her job was to stay in the shadows and not linger too much in the open.

"Goodbye," she said and then she turned from him and began to walk away.

She strangely had the urge to look back at him.

* * *

It wasn't surprising to see that Archer was still in his car with his book in hand –the man had an impeccable sense of acting like a statue most times and Eve was well familiar with his stoic (if he wasn't being disdainful or cold) demeanor.

As Eve approached the car, without looking at her, Archer closed his book and put it aside before he started the engine. As soon as she slipped into the car, he spoke without an inflection in his voice.

"We're done here. We should head back to headquarters."

Confused but starting to fill with a quiet anger, Eve surged from her seat and pushed Archer roughly against his side of the car. He looked back at her angered form without a change in expression.

"You looked at me with rage like that once," he said quietly, almost in curiosity. "That fire, that passion…your deadened self is no match to her."

When he gently pushed her away, there was no resistance as she was set back, looking at him in disbelief and even a little bit of pain.

"Now you're nothing but a memory."

He turned back to the wheel and turned off the emergency brake, saying nothing more as he put the car into drive and drove from there.

Eve sat there, trying not to let the thoughts crowd into her head.

Started 6/8/17 – Completed 6/23/17


	12. Chapter Seven: Friction

The two of them sat there in the car in silence and a crippling tense atmosphere surrounded them. And then she heard Archer take a deep breath, an uncharacteristic move from him.

"Giovanni would like to see you at the gym."

And that was it, with him opening his door and leaving her behind in the coolness of his car. Bereft of warmth and company, Eve stepped out of the car slowly, finding herself in no hurry for anything. A part of her just felt tired after everything, a bone-deep weariness that weighed down on her and made her want to just seek out a bed and sleep for a long time. Given that she still needed to see Giovanni, she settled for seeking out a bed later. For now, she had a few things to deal with beforehand.

The Viridian Rocket Base was a minute stop. She wasn't going to tarry long there, although she did need to restock before she headed out to the city and met Giovanni in his gym.

Eve quickly did her business, checking in on the others, and settled in for a brief rest at this base's Rocket Café. She had just gotten a milkshake in hand when one of the Executives walked towards her table. Eve made sure her face was smoothed out and revealed nothing, especially in front of _this_ Executive.

"Ariana," Eve greeted politely.

The red head smiled a Sharpedo-like grin, eying Eve like a piece of meat she was about to devour.

Eve had never liked Ariana and two of them had never gotten along.

It was a matter of dispute over Eve's standing with Giovanni, and Ariana hadn't liked the idea of being replaced as being the closest to him, like Eve was rumored to be. The woman had harassed and antagonized Eve ever since.

"Well, well –if it isn't little miss killer," Ariana never failed to remind Eve of the dirty job she was stuck with. "I saw the news. Good job, little girl."

Eve smiled slightly, completely insincere. "Thank you. I'm hoping it will help along with whatever Giovanni needs in the long run."

She caught the brief frown flitting across Ariana's lips, before they went back into a mocking grin.

"Great work –do all that you can to please him and the cause. After all, you need to be able to do _something_ to contribute. Otherwise you're worthless."

Eve barely withheld her scowl, but the older woman had directed a jab right at her that had seriously always been a cause of paranoid worry for her.

She hated the thought of being useless and unable to do anything for the Team and especially Giovanni.

Before she could level an acidic retort back at the red head, her eyes caught sight of a man with a mask and a beautiful lady beside him, eyes blocked by black wrappings. The lady's hair was red –not the bright red locks of Ariana, but a red that echoed the blood Eve spilled frequently from her targets.

"Who are they?" she asked quietly, directing Ariana's attention to them. "The masked man and the blind lady? I thought only Iron-Masked Marauder wore a mask."

Ariana frowned. "Those two? Newcomers. Ironically, the man calls himself 'The Masked Man'. The woman calls herself Lilith. I don't like them, more so than I hate you," the woman stated plainly. "Do your job, why don't you. Keep an eye on them."

Ariana turned on her heel and walked away from her, but Eve's attention was caught by those two. The man was tall, as was the woman. Eve was tall herself, but the others had an inch or two over her.

'Lilith's' hair was also definitely longer, put up in a messy wrap at the back of her head. Her skin was just as pale as Eve's, and she had lips painted as red as her hair and curved into a wicked smile.

Eve pinpointed her type easily, a seductress and an experienced one at that.

At that moment, the lady turned to her and looked straight at her, blind wrappings and all, and Eve could swear Lilith not only saw, but felt a surge of hate towards Eve.

She felt uneasy and anxious about this woman.

Just then, a hand clamped down on her shoulder and she nearly jumped in a fleeting scare, something that was not like her. Turning to face whoever it was, she opened her mouth to berate them when she closed it a second later. Confronted with a frowning Archer, she thought it better to keep quiet.

"You shouldn't keep Giovanni waiting," Archer sounded irritated. "What are you watching so intently?"

"Who are they?" she bit out, turning back to her current focus. Lilith was no longer looking at her, but she wasn't forgetting the look she'd received from the other, nor the feeling she got from her.

Archer briefly looked surprised, but looked towards the duo.

"New recruits," Archer watched the two closely. "They've been around and work mostly with the grunts."

"I don't like them," Eve said plainly, startling herself and him with the bluntness of her statement, and the fact she'd said such a thing in the first place. But she wasn't taking it back. "I don't trust them and they give me a bad feeling."

Archer hmmed. "I'll keep an eye on them in the future."

Eve looked to him. "I haven't met them and it's just a feeling. Nothing concrete. You're going to trust that?"

"You have always had good instincts," Archer said succinctly. "I trust them. And frankly, something about those two feel off. Still, it's been nearly 10 minutes of you fruitlessly watching them –you need to get going and see Giovanni."

Eve cleared her throat and nodded sharply, hurriedly leaving his side to do just that.

* * *

She stood in front of Giovanni's door and couldn't make herself knock. She was still feeling rattled and unable to understand her reaction to that woman. Not even Ariana unnerved and upset her as much as that one trade of looks with a woman she'd never met.

She shook her head. She had to focus. There was the report she had to do in order to consider the job finished, and a strange encounter with strangers shouldn't bother her.

She knocked and awaited the order to come in, which didn't waste any time in coming. She stepped into the room and waited for Giovanni to acknowledge her.

"Ariana called here, complaining that you were wasting time with a milkshake instead of coming straight here for a report," Giovanni noted, though he sounded amused.

"The job was finished and I was thirsty," Eve intoned neutrally.

"Anyone else and they'd get in trouble," he said sarcastically. He waved towards the tea set put by him. "Tea? Milkshakes don't quench thirst, despite your beliefs."

Eve's lips twitched up and she took a seat opposite him at the other side of his desk. He waited for her to get her tea and get settled before asking for a report. Then Eve obediently began to recite a professionally thought up report and afterwards Giovanni praised her.

"And I suppose it's better this way," he surprisingly said. "I would prefer you not have to dirty your hands as much as possible."

He reached over and took one of her hands, caressing her knuckles gently.

Eve stared blankly at them, before too many moments past and she took her hand away from him.

They sat in screeching silence after, drinking tea that had gone cold.

* * *

Archer sat at a table beside the Rocket Café quietly, studiously stirring the straw in his milkshake. He discreetly watched the duo, who were still milling about in that spot, talking to each other in low tones.

What he wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall next to them…

If there was sedition being sowed in the ranks, they would need to be prepared. Eve wouldn't have been watching them for no reason. Even if it had been the first time she'd seen them, for them to have set off her instincts would raise red flags for him. Her instincts had always been spot on, had been when she'd still been Le –

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice grated on his ears. "You're not one to usually have milkshakes. I thought that was reserved for our resident assassin?"

Archer looked up with a blasé expression, not rising to the bait. "Ariana," he greeted in boredom.

She sat herself down opposite him and languidly leaned forward.

"Then again," a smirk slowly formed on her lips. "You've always had this innate obsession fueled over her, didn't you?"

If he stiffened up, he did so unobtrusively.

"Never showed it of course, especially these days," she said nonchalantly. "But you always had this need to match her fire, and chase after her to show your superiority. Your usual cool demeanor broke only with and because of her. You obsessed practically just as much as Giovanni –"

"You're treading on thin ice, Ariana," Archer narrowed his eyes, leaning forward and glaring her down. He unclenched his hand from the milkshake glass, carefully relaxing it and acting as if it had never been clenched tightly around his glass.

"Oh? A reaction from Mr. Unfaze?" Ariana smirked. "Just telling the truth, Archer. You may act cold-hearted and uncaring, but the past can't be changed and I know a few of your dirty little secrets."

"So do I," Archer bit out. "You know, like the one where you dumped your son on the doorstep –"

"Shut your mouth!" Ariana snapped at him.

For a few moments, the two of them stared each other down in barely concealed fury.

"It's funny," Ariana started out, still sneering at him. "She thinks I hate her, when I actually don't. Not after what she did for my son. But you –I've always hated you."

"The same," Archer said stoically, finally schooling his features to its normal cool state.

Ariana suddenly sighed then, rubbing her face. "We're idiots. Eve informs us of possible traitors and here we are doing their work for them, fighting when we should be figuring this crap out."

Archer nodded sharply. "Coup d'etat attempts are more than likely. I think we need to be careful on how we act in public."

For a moment, he felt paranoid and as if everyone had been watching them and had noted every little interaction made between he and Ariana. They couldn't afford to let them be seen as being fractured. The higher ups needed to form a united front, if there really was a coup being planned.

"Truce?" he murmured, subtly taking a look around.

"Truce," Ariana murmured back. She stood up. "I've got to take a look in on Silver. He's working himself around to being a part of the Team. I might send him over to Eve, if only to toughen him up a little. I love him, but he can whine up a storm and throw a hissy fit."

He silently agreed, though said nothing aloud. To put it bluntly, even if Ariana refrained from doing so, Silver could be such a brooding, emo little shit. Arceus knows how the hell Giovanni dealt with his son. If he'd been Archer's, he'd kick him off a cliff, Spartan-style.

But again, he didn't say anything and continued to watch Ariana coolly, ending up smiling politely and earning a suspicious look from Ariana.

"If you want, you can send him over to me," Archer offered 'kindly'.

"Hell no," she said frankly. "You'd screw him over, like you did Leaf. Go find a bucket to melt in, Mr. Freeze."

She sneered at him again, before turning away and leaving him behind at his table. He glanced at the duo, who were done talking and were surveying the area. He let his eyes trail over them and pretended he was watching the room as well. The milkshake in front of him was fully melted by then.

Eve would have yelled and lectured him for it, before giving him a stink eye and taken it to finish it anyway.

(Original part Eve/Giovanni) Started 12/30/14 – Completed 12/30/14  
(Edit/Full Chapter fleshed out) Started 10/2/17 – Completed 10/2/17


End file.
